REV.  CHARLES  R.  BLISS 


The  New  West 

Education  Commission 

1880-1893 


REV.  E.  LYMAN  HOOD,  M.  A.,  PH.  D. 

Member  American  Historical  Association. 

Author :    The  National  Council  of  the  Congregational  Churches. 
The  Greek-Russian  Church  in  America. 


"Sweet  odors  reach  us  yet 
Brought  gladly  from  the  fields  long  left  behind. '  ' 


JACKSONVILLE,    FLORIDA. 

THE   H.    &   W.  B.  DREW   COMPANY. 

1905. 


PEEPACE. 

Reformations  mark  the  golden  milestones  in  the  history 
of  mankind.  From  an  aroused  and  indignant  conscience 
have  sprung  the  mightiest  endeavors  of  humanity.  Evils, 
impending  and  present,  have  incited  minds  and  hearts  to 
the  greatest  sacrifice,  the  noblest  achievements. 

Congregational  ism  had  its  birth  in  deep  conviction. 
The  "nonconformist  conscience"  to  this  day,  in  the  land 
of  its  origin,  is  the  term  most  generally  employed  to 
define  the  attitude  of  our  churches  in  England  toward 
moral  and  spiritual  issues.  Two  centuries  the  churches 
of  the  Pilgrim  Faith  had  been  established  in  America 
when  Mormonism  arose  to  threaten  the  social  and  reli- 
gious well-being  of  our  people.  Against  this  insidious 
foe  many  were  persuaded  after  long  consideration  that 
the  Christian  school  was  the  most  effective  weapon.  They 
believed  the  teacher  could  get  a  foothold  where  the 
preacher  would  not  be  given  a  hearing. 

The  New  West  Education  was  an  answer  to  a  call  from 
God.  The  founders  of  the  society  were  leaders  in  the 
churches.  The  busiest  of  men  were  its  trusted  adminis^ 
trators,  and  they  gave  with  commendable  example  of  their 
money  and  their  time.  The  response  to  the  urgent  appeal 
was,  indeed,  remarkable;  young  and  old,  poor  and  rich 

3G0459 


4  PREFACE. 

gave  freely.  During  the  period  of  fifteen  years  under 
review  in  this  monograph,  a  sum  amounting  to  three- 
fourths  of  a  million  of  dollars  came  to  the  treasury  of  the 
Commission  from  more  than  two  thousand  Congregational 
Churches  in  the  United  States. 

The  teachers,  a  noble  band,  seven  hundred  and  twenty 
in  all,  were  foreign  missionaries.  Yet  they  labored  in 
their  own  land.  Few  cared  to  go  where  they  went,  and 
a  welcome  at  first  was  rarely  accorded  them.  Year  after 
year,  by  heroic  Christ-like  service,  they  remained  at  their 
post.  Hostile  opposition  was  thus  gradually  overcome, 
and  in  the  end  affectionate  regard  and  abiding  friendship 
were  frequently  the  priceless  rewards.  Among  the 
teachers  themselves  a  spirit  of  fellowship  was  early 
manifest.  Common  purposes,  common  dangers,  and 
victories  for  truth  and  righteousness  in  which  all  had 
an  acknowledged  share,  drew  them  together  fraternally 
with  ties  of  mutual  regard  which  passing  years  have  not 
severed. 

The  schools  were  organized  in  temporary  quarters, 
often  with  a  mere  handful  of  pupils,  which  grew  in 
numbers  and  influence  until  they  gave  form  and  character 
to  the  incoming  public  schools  of  future  states.  Among 
the  thirty-five  thousand  students  enrolled  were  youth 
of  many  racesu  The  religious  beliefs  were  equally  well 
represented;  yet,  such  was  the  magic  alchemy  resulting 
from  wise  and  kindly  leadership,  these  scholars  quickly 


PREIACE.  5 

participated  in  the  high  ideals  of  Christian  education. 
Not  a  few  of  these  students  have  since  reached  positions 
of  honor  and  usefulness  in  their  respective  communities 
and  states. 

The  master  spirit,  who  guided  the  destinies  of  the 
teachers  and  the  schools  from  the  beginning,  and  up  to 
the  time  when  the  work  of  the  Commission  was  merged  in 
the  older  Education  Society,  has  passed  away.  His 
consecrated  life  needs  no  embellishment.  A  worthy 
memorial  to  any  man  is  the  work  he  did.  To  his  foresight, 
wisdom  and  energy  unstinted  praise  is  due ;  hence,  it  may 
be  said,  every  page  enshrines  the  memory  of  the  Reverend 
Charles  Robinson  Bliss.  The  history  of  the  New  West 
Education  Commission  is  a  unique  chapter  of  American 
Congregationalism.  The  teachers  have  become  very 
widely  scattered,  and  not  a  few,  like  their  honored  chief, 
have  been  called  from  earthly  labors.  Nevertheless  there 
isi  a  distinct  value  to  be  obtained  through  the  perspective 
of  years.  We  are  enabled  to  see  things  in  their  true 
relations.  The  author,  who  is  the  only  Superintendent 
the  Commission  ever  had  in  the  Southwestern  field,  was 
requested,  three  years  ago,  to  prepare  the  volume. 
Unforseen  circumstances  have  delayed  the  printing  and 
publishing  until  now.  Names  have  been  omitted,  and 
deeds  have  been  unrecorded,  which  were  eminently  worthy 
of  gracious  eulogy.  The  funds  at  command,  however, 
permitted  only  this  brief  monograph. 


6  PREFACE. 

While  still  the  executive  chief  of  the  Commission 
Secretary  Bliss  resolved  to  write  a  history  of  the  work. 
Arid  he  did  begin  the  task.  When  increasing  weakness 
prevented  further  labor  only  a  treatise  upon  Mormonism 
had  been  completed.  To  this  production  the  author 
wishes  to  acknowledge  his  indebtedness.  The  abiding 
interest  and  helpful  cooperation  of  Miss  Julia  M.  Bliss, 
one  of  the  two  surviving  sisters  of  the  secretary,  have 
made  the  book  possible.  Superintendent  Isaac  Huse,  long 
the  efficient  chief  in  the  Western  field,  assisted  most 
successfully  in  enlisting  the  interest  and  support  of 
friends  of  the  Commission.  Principal  Charles  E.  Hodgin, 
Mrs.  L.  A.  Collings,  the  Rev.  W.  S.  Hawkes  are  among  the 
number  who  have  very  kindly  loaned  valuable  data.  Rev. 
Simeon  Gilbert,  for  many  years  the  vice  president  of  the 
Commission,  and  the  Rev.  G.  S.  F.  Savage,  who  served 
with  wisdom  and  zeal  as  recording  secretary  through  all 
the  years  of  the  existence  of  the  Society,  have  very 
courteously  read  the  entire  manuscript  and  made  needful 
corrections.  The  preparation  of  the  volume,  in  the  midst 
of  pressing  pastoral  duties,  has  been  a  labor  of  love,  and 
it  is  sent  forth  with  the  prayer  that  readers  may  find  in 
its  pages  fitting  praise  for  the  noble  teachers  of  the 
Commission,  and  incentive  anew  to  take  up,  wherever 
and  whenever  duty  calls,  the  Master's  service. 

Union  Congregational  Church, 
Jacksonville,  Fla., 
May  1,  1905. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE 
COMMISSION. 


ORGANIZATION    OF    THE    COMMISSION. 


"The  object  shall  be  the  promotion  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion in  Utah  and  adjacent  states  and  territories  by  the 
education  of  the  children  and  youth  under  Christian 
teachers,  and  also  by  the  use  of  such  kindred  agencies 
as  may  at  any  time  be  deemed  desirable"  is  the  broad 
platform  upon  which  the  New  West  Education  Commis- 
sion was  established.  It  was  the  latest  organization  of 
national  scope  formed  by  the  Congregational  churches. 
Few  events  in  American  history  have  been  more  opportune 
or  providential.  The  inception,  in  the  spring  of  1879, 
was  an  inspiration,  which  came  to  the  members  of  the 
Congregational  Minister's  Union.  A  Methodist  home 
missionary  from  Salt  Lake  visited  Chicago  and  made 
addresses  in  which  the  evils  and  growth  of  Mormonism 
were  very  vividly  presented.  Professor  C.  C.  G.  Paine, 
a  teacher  in  one  of  the  high  schools  of  the  city,  heard 
him.  The  following  week  the  teacher  was  introduced  to 
the  Union  by  the  Rev.  Burke  F.  Leavitt.  In  an  address  of 
remarkable  power,  the  immediate  organization  of  a 
society  to  sustain  schools  in  Utah  was  urged.  The  extra- 
ordinary interest  resulted  in  the  appointment  of  a  com- 
mittee. The  members  of  this  committee  consulted  Col. 


10  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

C.  G.  Hammond,  formerly  superintendent  of  the  Union- 
Pacific  Railway.  He  had  lived  in  Salt  Lake,  and  was 
familiar  with  the  social  and  religious  conditions  of  the 
Territory. 

This  sagacious  layman  suggested  the  name  for  the  new 
society,  which  it  bore  ever  after,  and  christened  it  with 
the  first  gift — f  1,000.  He  gave  many  thousands  to  the 
work  in  later  years.  In  due  time  the  action  of  the 
Ministers  Monday  Union  was  laid  before  the  Congrega- 
tional Association  of  Chicago.  A  committee,  Rev.  Simeon 
Gilbert,  Rev.  C.  N.  Pond  and  Rev.  Arthur  Little,  was 
requested  to  bring  the  movement  to  the  attention  of  the 
Congregational  Association  of  Illinois,  which  was  done, 
with  the  following  results :  Unusual  interest  was  manifest 
and  a  resolution  was  unanimously  passed  requesting 
the  Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society  "to  take  the 
matter  in  hand  and  push  it."  The  men  who  were 
instrusted  with  this  resolution  were  Rev.  Simeon  Gilbert, 
Rev.  Arthur  Little,  Rev.  E.  C.  Barnard  and  Mr.  Ralph 
Emerson.  After  correspondence  and  conference  the 
national  society  decided  it  was  inexpedient  to  assume  the 
contemplated  work  among  the  Mormons  and  Mexicans. 

In  the  meanwhile  President  E.  P.  Tenney,  of  Colorado 
College,  Colorado  Springs,  a  man  of  vision  and  enthusiasm, 
heard  of  what  had  been  done  in  Chicago.  At  his  sugges- 
tion a  commission  was  appointed  by  the  trustees  of  the 
college.  It  consisted  of  sixteen  men,  F.  A.  Noble,  Simeon 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  11 

Gilbert,  E.  P.  Goodwin,  Arthur  Little,  Burke  F.  Leavitt, 
C.  G.  Hammond,  E.  W.  Blatchford,  H.  Z.  Culver,  B.  C. 
Cook,  C.  H.  Case,  John  Deere,  A.  P.  Sherrill,  E.  P. 
Tenney,  W.  H.  Barrows,  J.  L.  Withrow,  E.  B.  Webb.  The 
members  of  this  provisional  commission  met  at  the  home 
of  Mr.  E.  W.  Blatchford,  where  so  many  other  important 
civic  and  religious  movements  have  been  either  originated 
or  helped  into  enlarged  power.  An  organization  was  at 
once  formed,  and  later  incorporated  with  the  following 
officers : 

President,  Kev.  F.  A.  Noble,  the  beloved  pastor  of 
the  Union  Park  Church;  Kev  Simeon  Gilbert,  editor  of 
the  Advance,  vice  president;  E.  W.  Blatchford,  a  promi- 
nent business  man  of  the  city,  secretary;  Col.  C.  G. 
Hammond,  the  philanthropist,  treasurer.  Soon  after  Eev. 
G.  S.  F.  Savage  was  chosen  recording  secretary.  The  list 
of  the  original  corporate  members,  as  announced  in  the 
first  circular  issued  by  the  Commission,  is  a  shining 
roster  of  eminent  names.  Rev.  Charles  R.  Bliss  was 
elected  corresponding  secretary.  He  continued  to  serve 
the  Society  with  distinguished  ability  and  devotion  during 
the  existence  of  the  Commission.  Mr.  Bliss  had  already 
been  drawn  into  the  educational  work  of  the  New  West 
by  association  with  President  Tenney,  and  was  in  a 
peculiar  manner  qualified  for  the  large  task  so  soon  to  be 
committed  to  him.  He  entered  upon  his  official  duties 
October  1,  1880.  In  addition  to  those  already  mentioned, 


12  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

among  the  early  friends  and  loyal  supporters  of  the 
schools  were  David  Fales,  an  able  attorney;  William  E. 
Hale,  who  later  served  several  years  as  president;  E.  D. 
Redington,  J.  H.  Hollister,  M.D.,  Rev.  E.  F.  Williams, 
C.  J.  Hurlbut,  A.  L.  Fanning  and  William  H.  Hubbard, 
who  long  served  as  treasurer. 

As  the  schools  increased  in  numbers  and  expanded  in 
usefulness  a  larger  force  was  required,  not  alone  in  the 
strictly  administrative  work,  but  in  bringing  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  pressing  need  to  the  attention  of  the  public. 
In  April,  1884,  the  first  issue  of  the  New  West  Gleaner 
was  published.  Six  years  later  the  name  was  changed 
by  prefixing  Christian  Education  to  the  former  title. 
This  attractive  bi-monthly  paper  was  the  means  of 
enlisting  the  sympathies  and  support  of  a  multitude  of 
people.  At  one  time  six  thousand  copies  were  regularly 
printed  and  distributed  among  the  churches.  In  its 
interesting  pages  were  to  be  found  the  official  announce- 
ments of  the  officers  of  the  Commission,  news  from  the 
wide  field,  letters  from  the  teachers  and  patrons,  and  the 
receipts  and  expenditures  in  full. 

The  increasing  burden  of  administration  that  came 
with  the  years  made  necessary  the  employment  of  addi- 
tional helpers  in  the  field  of  collection.  Rev.  A.  E. 
Winship,  nine  years  a  successful  pastor  in  Somerville, 
Mass.,  was  elected  in  May,  1883,  district  secretary  for 
New  England,  with  office  in  Boston.  The  duties  of  this 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  13 

office  were  performed  by  Mm  three  years,  with  singular 
acceptance  to  the  Commission  and  an  ever  increasing 
appreciation  by  those  who  were  privileged  to  hear  his 
fervid  appeals.  Rev.  S.  S.  Mathews  was  another  herald  of 
the  Commission,  who  carried  the  message  from  the  wide 
field  to  many  hearts.  A  pastor  of  New  England,  he  had 
also  visited  the  distant  West  and  was  familiar  with  the 
needs  and  opportunities  of  the  teachers  and  schools.  Mr. 
Winship  having  retired,  Mr.  George  M.  Herrick  was 
elected  assistant  secretary,  and  not  only  did  he  take  his 
full  share  in  the  executive  duties  of  the  office,  but  he 
was  a  welcome  speaker  in  the  churches  and  before  the 
local  and  state  bodies  of  our  communion. 

Polygamous  Mormonism  and  Romanized  Jesuitism  leave 
their  blight  on  nothing  if  not  on  womanhood.  It  is  not 
surprising,  therefore,  that  women,  from  the  very  begin- 
ning, took  unspeakable  interest  in  and  showed  self- 
sacrificing  devotion  to  the  Commission  and  its  chosen 
work.  A  very  large  majority  of  the  teachers  were 
women,  and  an  equally  large  proportion  of  the  income 
for  the  work  came  from  women.  For  years  Miss  Lucia  A. 
Manning  was  in  charge  of  the  Boston  office;  Miss 
Margaret  A.  Towne  held  a  similar  position  in  Chicago. 
With  rare  tact  and  courtesy  their  daily  tasks  were 
modestly  performed. 

To  the  Congregational  Churches  of  America  the  effort 
of  the  Commission  was  a  distinctivelv  new  work  and  in 


14  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

a  vast  region  of  our  own  land  little  known.  Financial 
support  to  be  continued  was  dependent  upon  accurate 
and  personal  information.  To  this  end  teachers,  from 
time  to  time,  after  tried  experience,  were  called  from  their 
schoolrooms  to  be  public  advocates  for  the  cherished 
cause.  Among  the  first  of  the  many  who  were  thus  selected 
was  Miss  Lydia  Tichenor,  later  the  wife  of  Rev.  A.  J. 
Bailey.  Her  addresses  everywhere  awakened  interest. 
Miss  Sybil  Carter  was  another  equally  gifted  in  appeal. 
Misis  M.  McCullough,  Miss  Virginia  Dox,  Miss  Grace  E. 
Gilbert,  Miss  M.  A.  Hand,  Miss  Carrie  W.  Hunt,  were 
others  whose  names  were  welcomed  in  many  homes,  far 
and  near,  because  of  the  insight  and  uplift  their  stirring 
words  had  given  to  aspiring  hearts.  At  this  point  must 
be  mentioned  the  great  service  rendered  by  women  whose 
names  were  never  recorded  on  earth,  yet  who  were  willing 
to  spend  and  be  spent,  that  the  labors  of  the  Commission 
should  be  adequately  sustained  by  prayer  and  gifts. 
Hundreds  of  meetings,  yes,  thousands,  without  exaggera- 
tion, were  held  to  promote  the  cause.  In  these  meetings 
women  were  both  hosts  and  guests. 

Among  the  first  of  the  noble  company  of  teachers 
employed  in  Utah  was  Mr.  Isaac  Huse,  who,  in  answer 
to  the  Macedonian  call,  left  his  position  in  New  England 
to  accept  a  school  at  the  front.  So  acceptable  was  his 
service  there,  and  so  imperative  was  the  demand  for 
intelligent  supervision  by  one  on  the  field,  he  was  chosen 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  15 

Superintendent,  and  served  in  that  capacity  ten  years. 
Discreet,  faithful,  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  Commis- 
sion, considerate  and  wise  in  assisting  the  teachers,  the 
success  attained  was  in  no  small  measure  due  to  him. 
Similar  conditions  and  needs  prevailed  in  the  South- 
western field,  which  led  to  the  election  of  the  author  as 
Superintendent.  For  several  years  he  had  served  the 
Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society  as  Superin- 
tendent. The  work  of  the  mission  churches  and  the  work 
of  the  mission  schools  were  really  one ;  their  support  also 
came  from  the  same  sources ;  thus  unity  was  given  to  the 
efforts  on  the  entire  field. 


MORMONISM. 


MORMONISM. 


The  chief  features  of  Mormonism  are  historic.  Its 
spirit,  its  purposes,  and  its  impelling  forces  are  inherited 
chiefly  from  two  men.  In  this  personal  origin  of  Mor- 
monism mav  be  found  its  weakness  and  its  strength.  It 
is  a  necessity,  therefore,  in  order  to  understand  Mor 
monism  to  bring  its  founders  to  the  witness  stand,  and 
subject  their  characters  to  rigid  examination.  Just  at 
this  point  Mormonism  grows  fearful  and  retreats.  Yet, 
beyond  question,  Joseph  Smith  has  gained  the  profound 
and  well-nigh  universal  veneration  of  the  Latter  Day 
Saints.  To  them  he  is  a  prophet  with  whom  God  deigned 
to  converse,  a  trusted  disciple  of  Jesus,  an  inspired  trans- 
lator of  hitherto  unknown  human  history,  a  restorer  of 
ancient  priesthoods,  a  revealer  of  the  mystery  of  celestial 
marriage,  a  sage,  a  martyr.  In  short  they  have  idealized 
him. 

Briefly  must  be  traced  the  life  history  of  this  remarkable 
character.  Joseph  Smith  was  born  in  1805  in  Vermont, 
where  his  boyhood  was  spent.  He  was  not  fortunate  in 
his  parentage:  his  father  being  illiterate,  superstitious, 
improvident,  poor  in  purse  and  poorer  in  reputation.  His 


20  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

mother  was  no  better,  visionary,  impracticable  and 
unstable.  Under  such  influences  Joseph  grew  up, 
physically  strong,  mentally  vacillating  and  spiritually 
weak. 

When  fifteen  he  claims  God  and  Christ  both  appeared 
to  him  and  declared  that  all  the  churches  were  false. 
Much  is  made  of  this  early  revelation  by  Mormon  writers, 
and  it  is  the  subject  of  a  large  painting  in  the  temple  in 
Salt  Lake.  Solomon  Spaulding,  a  Presbyterian  minister 
wrote  a  romance,  which  fell  into  the  hands  of  Joseph 
in  due  time.  This  impossible  story,  with  the  aid  of  a 
peepstone,  an  old  hat,  mythical  plates,  and  the  testimony 
of  witnesses  inspired  by  himself,  furnished  Joseph  with 
the  Book  of  Mormon. 

The  business  adventures  of  Joseph  Smith  were  no 
less  ludicrous  and  disastrous.  The  publication  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon  did  not  enrich  him;  it  was  a  wretched 
failure.  A  few  years  later,  1830,  the  prophet  established 
in  Kirkland,  Ohio,  a  bank  with  a  nominal  capital  of  four 
million  dollars,  an  actual  capital  of  five  thousand,  on 
which  bills  to  the  amount  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  were 
issued.  The  inevitable  happened.  The  bank  was  wrecked, 
and  to  escape  angry  creditors  Joseph  fled  at  night  on 
horseback. 

We  have  already  seen  that  Smith  has  no  claim  to  the 
authorship  of  the  Book  of  Mormon.  He  did,  however, 
rewrite  the  scriptures.  Some  of  his  "corrections"  are 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  21 

ridiculously  absurd.  For  instance,  Moses  failed  to  fore- 
tell the  coming  of  the  prophet  of  the  Latter  Day  Saints, 
so  Smith  corrects  the  oversight  by  inserting  in  the  last 
chapter  of  Genesis  a  prophecy  concerning  himself.  The 
most  important  of  all  the  many  works  in  Mormon  litera- 
ture is  "Commandments  and  Covenants."  Smith  may 
justly  claim  partial  authorship  of  this  widely  known  book. 
It  is  written  in  the  language  of  the  scriptures,  as  the 
following  brief  extract  will  show.  Smith  determined  to 
locate  his  followers  in  a  certain  place  in  Missouri,  which 
he  called  Zion.  Prophecies,  therefore,  came  rapidly :  "He 
that  sendeth  his  treasures  to  the  Land  of  Zion  shall  receive 
an  inheritance  in  this  world,  and  his  works  shall  follow 
him,  and  also  a  reward  in  the  world  to  come.  Blessed  are 
the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord  from  henceforth !" 

"Commandments  and  Covenants"  may  be  said  to  be  the 
cornerstone  upon  which  the  vast  fabric  of  Mormonism 
rests.  In  it  is  declared  that  Smith  and  his  successors  are 
the  inspired  agents  of  God.  The  Mormon  Church  is 
further  defined  as  having  religious,  civil  and  political 
functions.  The  work  gave  to  the  leaders  of  the  church 
as  complete  and  effective  a  religious  organization  as  the 
world  has  ever  seen.  In  that  fact  lies  the  strength  of 
Mormonism,  and  its  danger  to  the  country.  The  book 
professes  to  give  superhuman  power  to  all  who  believe 
in  its  teachings.  The  priesthood  is  authorized  to  perform 
marriage  rites,  which  shall  give  dominion,  power  and 


22  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

glory  in  the  future  life;  to  baptize  living  persons  as 
proxies;  to  perform  miracles.  Oaths,  rituals,  baptisms, 
anointings,  sea  lings  are  far  more  elaborate  than  any 
known  in  the  modern  secret  societies.  Furthermore,  the 
book  proclaims  polygamy  as  a  divine  institution,  to  be 
accepted  by  all  Mormons  as  fundamental  in  belief  and 
practice.  This  last  prophecy  of  Joseph  Smith,  and  in 
many  respects  the  most  potent,  was  uttered  in  Nauvoo  in 
1843,  when  his  personal  immorality  made  such  revela- 
tion a  cloak  for  disgusting  licentiousness.  This  prophecy 
was  the  cause  of  his  arrest  and  death  soon  after. 

Another  leader  was  required  upon  the  death  of  Joseph 
Smith.  Prophecy  had  ceased  to  a  large  degree,  but  other 
qualities  were  now  demanded.  Departure  from  Nauvoo 
was  a  necessity,  and  the  chosen  ruler  in  this  memorable 
pilgrimage  of  a  thousand  miles  across  the  plains  was 
Brigham  Young.  Supreme  and  arbitrary  power  was  given 
him.  The  new  chief  was  illiterate,  and  yet  intellectually 
strong.  He  was  an  avowed  believer  in  the  Bible,  and  yet 
put  Mormon  seers  as  "living  oracles"  above  the  scriptures. 
Amid  a  score  of  wives  he  conducted  daily  prayers,  and 
was  a  regular  attendant  upon  the  services  of  the  church 
in  which  he  professed  to  be  the  chief  priest. 

With  the  subsequent  marvelous  development  of  Mor- 
monism  in  view,  it  is  interesting  to  note  Brigham's- 
purposes.  His  ideal  for  the  church,  of  which  he  was  the 
head,  was  not  so  much  spiritual  regeneration  of  man- 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  23 

kind,  but  rather  social  reform  and  political  supremacy. 
Thus,  soon  after  reaching  Utah,  a  convention  was  called 
and  the  State  of  Deseret  established.  He  was  proclaimed 
governor,  with  extraordinary  powers.  It  must  be  said 
his  was  a  service  of  inestimable  value  to  Utah.  By  his 
iron  will  he  preserved  order,  encouraged  industry,  invited 
immigration,  promoted  agriculture,  laid  out  and  built  up 
Salt  Lake  City  to  be  one  of  the  most  beautiful  cities  in 
America. 

An  admirer  of  Brigham  Young  has  written  that  "he 
was  uncontaminated  with  books."  This  furnishes  a  key 
to  his  life  and  influence.  The  education  of  the  schools 
he  regarded  superfluous  because  revelation  was  all 
sufficient. 

This  put  a  premium  upon  ignorance.  The  result  was, 
of  course,  disastrous.  The  office  of  teacher  was  hence- 
forth of  little  honor  and  small  remuneration.  Utah  was 
for  years  a  region  in  which  education  was  discredited. 
Such  environment  furnished  a  fertile  field  for  the 
doctrines  taught  by  Young,  namely,  the  materiality  of 
God,  the  secular  nature  of  all  religion,  the  essential 
inferiority  of  woman,  the  plurality  of  wives,  the  exalta- 
tion of  the  priesthood  and  the  supremacy  of  the  church 
in  social  and  political  affairs. 

August  10,  1877,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six,  Brigham 
Young,  one  of  the  most  unique  characters  in  the  history 
of  America,  was  summoned  from  earth.  He  was  born  in 


24  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

Vermont,  and,  until  thirty  years  of  age,  was  an  ardent 
Methodist.  He  was  made  head  of  the  Mormon  Church 
in  1844,  and  continued  to  exercise  despotic  and  almost 
unlimited  power  to  the  day  of  his  death,  a  period  of 
thirty- three  years.  He  developed  to  a  very  marked  degree 
the  missionary  spirit,  and,  as  a  result,  men  were  sent  to 
every  portion  of  the  globe  to  win  converts  and  bring  them 
to  the  promised  land  of  Utah.  The  ultimate  supremacy 
of  the  Latter  Day  Saints  throughout  the  entire  world 
was  the  cardinal  doctrine  of  the  church.  Once  granted, 
this  principle  permits  the  church  to  enter  every  legislative 
hall,  every  municipal  council,  every  court  room.  There 
should  be  no  place  where  its  will  is  not  declared  and 
enforced.  After  Brigham's  death  the  nature  and  scope 
of  the  assumption  began  to  be  realized — that  it  was  at 
variance  with  free  institutions,  and  intolerable  in  a  land 
of  libeity. 


CONGREGATIONAL  MISSIONS 
AND  SCHOOLS. 


CONGREGATIONAL  MISSIONS  AND 
SCHOOLS. 


After  the  advent  of  General  Connor's  army  in  1862, 
Gentiles  flocked  to  the  opening  mines,  which  had  been 
purposely  shunned  by  the  Mormons.  Salt  Lake  began  to 
increase  rapidly  in  population.  Yet,  in  1864,  it  was 
recorded,  "Utah  has  no  Christian  churches,  no  clubs,  no 
Odd  Fellows,  no  Masons,  no  politics,  and  no  religion." 
In  the  summer  of  that  year  Jonathan  Blanchard,  presi- 
dent of  the  Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society, 
visited  the  Territory.  Later  Samuel  Holmes,  Esq.,  of  New 
York,  made  another  survey.  Both  strongly  advocated 
Protestant  missionary  work  at  once. 

November  17,  1864,  a  few  brave  spirits  organized  the 
Young  Men's  Literary  Association.  This  organization 
warmly  greeted  the  Rev.  Norman  McLeod,  sent  by  the 
Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society  as  their  first 
evangelist  to  Utah.  He  held  the  first  non- Mormon  service 
in  the  territory  January  19,  1865.  A  Congregational 
Sunday  school  and  church  were  soon  formed,  and  funds 
were  speedily  raised  to  purchase  a  lot  and  erect  a  suitable 
building.  Independence  Hall  was  the  appropriate  name 
given  the  structure.  The  lot  cost  $2,500,  and  the  building 


28  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

$5,000.  A  year  later,  while  the  pastor  was  in  the  East 
collecting  funds  for  the  enlargement  of  the  work,  the 
able  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school,  Dr.  J.  King 
Robinson,  Avas  assassinated.  He  was  called  from  his 
house  at  midnight,  ostensibly  to  attend  a  man  injured  by 
a  horse,  and  was  brutally  assaulted  a  few  rods  from  his 
door.  He  was  carried  into  Independence  Hall  where 
death  soon  relieved  his  sufferings.  He  was  the  first 
martyr  to  Congregational  evangelism  in  Utah.  The 
pastor  was  warned  not  to  return.  Thus  the  work  so 
auspiciously  begun,  by  murder  and  intimidation,  was 
suspended.  Regular  services  were  not  resumed  for  ten 
years,  or  until  the  Rev.  Walter  M.  Barrows  took  charge. 
In  the  meanwhile  Independence  Hall  was  not  left 
unoccupied.  In  1867,  under  the  leadership  of  Bishop 
Tattle,  the  Episcopalians  arrived  and  began  services  in 
the  hall.  They  occupied  this  Congregational  Church 
building  four  years.  On  May  8,  1870,  the  Methodists, 
represented  by  Rev.  G.  M.  Pierce,  began  a  successful 
work  in  the  Mormon  City,  occupying  the  hall  a  year. 
The  hall  never  belied  its  name.  It  was  the  recognized 
center  of  Gentile  influences.  It  is  said  that  every 
evangelical  denomination  in  Utah,  except  the  Baptist 
and  Lutheran,  held  its  first  service  in  this  historic  build- 
ing. Here  also  the  Hebrews  organized  their  society,  and 
the  Woman's  Antipolygamy  Society  had  its  birth  within 
its  walls. 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  29 

When  the  Mormons  left  Nauvoo,  in  1846,  it  was  the 
dream  of  Brigham  Young  to  find  some  vast  uninhabited 
region,  where  the  church  could  develop  unaffected  by 
Gentile  influences.  A  year  later,  after  a  long  journey 
of  a  thousand  miles  over  vast  plains  and  towering 
mountains,  the  colonists  came  to  the  broad,  fertile  Utah 
valley.  It  verily  seemed  the  promised  land,  and,  further- 
more, it  was  under  the  sovereignty  of  Mexico.  No  wonder 
he  felt  they  were  forever  safe  from  further  intrusion.  Yet, 
within  a  year,  by  the  fortunes  of  war,  the  Mormons  were 
again  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  And  by  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  California,  two  years  later,  their  anticipated 
secluded  city  was  receiving  a  stream  of  travelers  from 
every  clime.  At  length,  in  1869,  the  completion  of  the 
transcontinental  railway  ended  forever  the  dream  of 
isolation. 

The  increasing  population  and  importance  of  the  city 
impelled  the  Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society 
to  commission  the  Rev.  Walter  M.  Barrows  for  the  work 
so  long  suspended.  January  18,  1874,  he  preached  his 
first  sermon,  and  soon  after  reorganized  the  Congrega- 
tional Church,  with  twenty-four  members.  Thus  began 
a  fruitful  ministry  which  lasted  seven  and  one-half  years. 
A  man  of  great  energy  and  remarkable  tact,  he  left  an 
abiding  impress  upon  city  and  territory. 


THE  ACADEMIES  OF  UTAH. 


THE  ACADEMIES  OF  UTAH. 


The  growing  influence  of  the  missionary  church  empha- 
sized the  need  of  a  missionary  school.  In  July,  1878, 
under  the  auspices  of  Colorado  College,  Salt  Lake 
Academy  Was  incorporated.  In  September  of  the  same 
year  the  school  was  opened  under  the  guidance  of  Mr. 
Edward  A.  Benner.  Thirteen  years  this  able  educator 
was  in  charge  of  this,  the  most  important  of  all  the 
New  West  institutions.  It  need  not  be  said  that  the 
potent  factor,  which  the  Academy  was  freely  acknowl- 
edged by  friend  and  foe  to  be,  through  all  these  formative, 
eventful  years,  was  due  in  large  measure  to  the  talent  and 
toil  of  Principal  Benner.  The  work  speaks  louder  than 
eulogy. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  further  that  in  any  great 
battle  the  general  commanding  does  not  do  all  the  fight- 
ing. Neither  in  the  successful  school  does  the  chief 
executive  do  all  the  teaching.  Thus  the  associates  of  the 
principal  deserve  honorable  recognition.  Among  the  many 
were  Mr.  Marcus  E.  Jones,  Mr.  C.  E.  Allen,  Mrs.  Kate 
A.  Ashley,  Miss  Alice  M.  Keith,  Miss  Eva  Stokes,  Miss 
M.  S.  Emerson,  Miss  N.  L.  Van  Voorhis,  Miss  Ella  S. 


34  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

Danforth.  In  the  later  years  there  were  Mr.  R.  A. 
Metcalf,  Miss  Jennie  M.  Carney,  Miss  Alice  P.  Stevens. 
Mr.  Benner  was  succeeded  in  1891  by  Oscar  F.  Davis,  a 
graduate  of  Vermont  University,  who  remained  in  charge 
until  the  Academy  was  turned  over  to  the  Education 
Society.  Among  his  assistants  were  Miss  Mary  A.  Hyde, 
Miss  Lillie  W.  Dickerman,  Miss  Ella  C.  Fitzgerald  and 
Miss  Nora  Hjelm. 

For  three  years  the  Academy  was  accommodated  in  the 
Congregational  Chapel  and  the  three  rooms  adjoining. 
The  prosperity  of  the  school  called  for  more  room.  In 
1881  a  sightly  location,  ten  by  twenty  rods,  was  purchased 
of  Bishop  E.  D.  Wooley,  of  the  Mormon  Church,  for  ten 
thousand  dollars.  To  build  an  adequate  structure  called 
for  a  much  larger  sum  than  the  Commission  had  thus  far 
been  compelled  to  raise.  But  the  friends  of  Christian 
Education  rallied  to  the  task.  Mrs.  Valeria  G.  Stone,  of 
Maiden,  Mass.,  gave  ten  thousand  dollars;  Col.  C.  G. 
Hammond  nine  thousand  (and,  because  of  his  zeal  and 
faithfulness  from  the  beginning,  the  building  was  named 
Hammond  Hall)  ;  Mr.  L.  E.  Holden,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
three  thousand  dollars;  Roland  Mather,  Esq.,  Hartford, 
Conn.,  one  thousand.  The  edifice  is  a  high  basement,  two- 
story  structure,  of  white  brick  with  red  brick  trimmings. 
The  cost,  with  equipment,  was  twenty-three  thousand 
dollars,  of  which  the  citizens  of  Salt  Lake  contributed 
about  one-half.  At  the  time  of  its  completion  it  was  by 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  35 

far  the  finest  educational  building  in  Utah.  Among  the 
contributors  were  John  Taylor,  President  of  the  Mormon 
Church;  several  saloon  keepers  gave  one  hundred  dollars 
each. 

The  educational  factor,  large  as  it  was  in  the  upbuild- 
ing of  this  important  institution,  was  only  one  of  many. 
The  relation  of  the  Academy  to  the  First  Congregational 
Church  was  cordial  and  intimate.  Rev.  J.  Brainard 
Thrall,  the  pastor,  long  served  on  the  board  of  trustees, 
and  was  a  special  lecturer  several  terms.  The  acknowl- 
edged ability  and  gift  of  leadership  in  its  teachers  placed 
the  school  in  the  forefront  of  the  social  and  intellectual 
life  of  the  growing  city. 

The  population  and  importance  of  Salt  Lake  made 
possible  and  necessary  the  organization  of  district  schools 
of  primary  and  grammar  grade  in  the  outlying  wards  of 
the  city.  Such  an  one  was  the  Burlington  School,  started 
in  1882  in  a  small  adobe  house,  but  transferred  later  to 
a  commodious  building,  largely  built  by  the  gifts  of  the 
First  Church,  Burlington,  Vt.  The  first  teacher  was  Miss 
Edith  McLeod,  followed  by  Mrs.  H.  M.  Scruton,  now  Mrs. 
Lovering,  of  Cambridge,  Mass.  Miss  Fannie  Hall  assumed 
charge  later  and  was  assisted  by  Miss  Emma  M.  Blodgett 
and  Miss  Flora  J.  Corbett.  The  extension  of  the  public 
school  system  at  length  afforded  educational  opportunities 
to  all  children  and  the  school  was  closed. 


36  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

Plymouth  School,  opened  in  1882,  was  another  ward 
school  of  the  city,  which  had  an  eventful  career  and 
hastened  the  day  of  efficient  public  schools.  The  pupils 
were  mainly  from  the  families  of  the  Saints,  yet,  as  in 
every  other  school,  religious  instruction  was  regularly 
given  and  received  with  evident  appreciation.  At  this 
point  we  may  quote  from  an  "official  circular  of  instruc- 
tion" issued  from  the  headquarters  of  the  Commission, 
and  mailed  to  every  New  West  teacher:  "It  must  nev.er 
be  forgotten  that  New  West  schools  are  sustained  by 
Christian  people,  who  deem  religious  results  of  the  very 
highest  importance,  and  while  the  directors  do  not  desire 
to  have  the  teachers  discharge  any  religious  duties  in  a 
narrow,  sectarian  spirit,  they  do  expect  that  they  will 
use  all  proper  endeavors  to  instill  into  the  minds  of  the 
pupils  the  great  truths  of  the  Bible." 

In  the  tenth  ward  of  Salt  Lake,  facing  one  of  the  many 
beautiful  public  parks,  a  three-room  adobe  building 
was  constructed  by  the  Commission  at  a  cost  of  three 
thousand  dollars.  The  Ladies'  Aid  Society  of  the  Phillips 
Church,  South  Boston,  made  so  generous  a  gift  toward  its 
erection  the  school  was  given  the  name  Phillips.  It  was 
dedicated  in  November,  1886,  the  Kev.  Alexander  Munroe, 
missionary  of  the  Congregational  Home  Missionary 
Society,  preached  the  sermon.  Pupils  from  other 
sabbath  schools  of  the  New  West  participated  in  the 
exercises,  and  with  their  Mormon  parents  filled  the  three 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  37 

rooms.  The  spiritual  life  of  this  school  for  several  years 
was  very  marked.  A  prayer  meeting  was  held  each  Mon- 
day afternoon  at  the  close  of  the  session.  Rev.  W.  S. 
Hawkes,  the  superintendent  of  Home  Missions  for  Utah, 
and  the  pastors  of  the  several  Congregational  Churches 
of  the  city  often  assisted  in  the  Sunday  school  and 
religious  exercises  of  the  week. 

A  study  of  the  New  Testament  soon  confirms  one  in  the 
belief  that  the  early  evangelists  regarded  the  cities  as 
strategic  points  in  their  chosen  labors.  In  battling 
against  a  bestial,  polygamous  Mormonism  and  an  un- 
American  civilization,  the  Commission  felt  the  few  lead- 
ing towns  of  each  territory  must  be  captured  for  truth 
and  righteousness.  Ogden,  the  largest  center  of  popula- 
tion in  Northern  Utah,  was  thus  chosen. 

Two  years  after  the  Congregational  Church  was 
organized  in  Salt  Lake  Mr.  Safford  came  to  Odgen  and 
began  church  services.  The  Sunday  school,  begun  with 
ten,  soon  grew  to  eighty.  In  July,  1877,  the  church  was 
organized  with  ten  members.  After  three  years  of  trying 
missionary  labor  the  pastor  withdrew  and  the  organiza- 
tion became  extinct.  In  1884  Rev.  H.  E.  Thayer,  now 
superintendent  of  missions  in  Kansas,  organized  a  church 
in  the  New  West  schoolhouse. 

As  in  several  instances,  the  man  chosen  in  the  beginning 
to  guide  the  destinies  of  the  Academy  proved  eminently 
fitted  for  the  position  and  remained  to  see  a  worthy  monu- 


38  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

ment  to  his  years  of  labor.  Mr.  H.  Waldo  Ring  went 
from  New  Hampshire,  and  was  principal  eight  years. 
Assisting  him  were  Miss  V.  W.  Ludden,  Miss  Alice 
Hamlin,  Miss  Abbie  P.  Noyes,  Miss  M.  L.  McClelland. 
In  the  spring  of  1891  Mr.  David  A.  Curry,  a  graduate  of 
Indiana  University,  assumed  charge.  With  him  were 
associated  Miss  M.  H.  Nutting,  Miss  Eva  Boney,  Miss 
Ruth  E.  Gill  and  Miss  Amelia  A.  Binder. 

That  Protestant  schools  should  be  welcomed  and  sup- 
ported by  Mormon  parents  in  the  very  capital  of  the 
Latter  Day  Saints  seems  incredible.  They  realized,  how- 
ever, the  inferiority  of  their  own  teachers  and  schools. 
Rev.  D.  L.  Leonard,  of  Oberlin,  Ohio,  several  years  the 
Home  Missionary  superintendent  in  Utah,  has  written 
thus  of  their  schools:  "They  were  unique,  and  at  most 
points  highly  original.  The  schoolhouse  and  the  meeting 
house  were  commonly  the  same  building;  the  themes 
presented  and  the  spiritual  atmosphere  diffused  on  Sunday 
were  but  slightly  modified  during  the  week.  As 
compared  with  the  pupils  the  teachers  for  the  most  part 
were  but  ignoramuses  of  a  larger  growth.  Free  schools 
were  rare  exceptions;  the  children  of  the  poor  were 
excluded  by  their  poverty.  The  Saints  had  no  fear  of 
religion  in  their  schools.  The  day's  work  was  closed  as 
well  as  begun  with  prayer,  which  is  always  heard  on  all 
manner  of  occasions,  even  at  the  opening  and  ending  of 
the  dance." 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  39 

Provo  contained  a  population  of  five  thousand,  solidly 
Mormon,  when,  November  20,  1883,  Miss  Emily  M.  Clapp, 
of  East  Hampton,  Mass.,  opened  a  school.  The  teacher 
was  a  graduate  of  Mt.  Holyoke,  and  had  won  laurels  as 
an  educator  in  Greenfield,  Mass.  The  city,  fifty  miles 
south  of  Salt  Lake,  was  the  third  in  population  in  the 
Territory.  The  announcement  in  the  press  stated :  "This 
school  will  be  wholly  unsectarian,  and,  while  good  morals 
and  reverence  for  God  will  be  inculcated,  no  religious 
dogma  will  be  instilled  into  the  minds*  of  the  pupils." 

The  small  beginning  of  this  institution  (at  the  present 
writing  the  largest  of  all  the  New  West  schools)  is  of 
unusual  interest.  From  the  teacher's  pen  we  may  read 
how  she  went  to  the  building  at  the  time  appointed,  but 
no  pupil  came.  Not  until  the  sixth  day,  when  six  little 
children  appeared,  was  work  begun.  Increasing  attendance 
soon  demanded  larger  quarters,  which  were  found  in  rented 
buildings.  Mr.  Joseph  O.  Proctor,  of  Gloucester,  Mass., 
made  a  generous  gift  for  a  building,  which  was  built  and 
occupied  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  year  (September, 
1887)  at  a  total  cost  of  nine  thousand  dollars.  Miss  M. 
F.  French,  Miss  Sarah  C.  Hervey  and  Miss  Minnie  L. 
Foster  in  charge. 

As  so  often  recurred  elsewhere,  the  new  Protestant 
school  invited  the  Mormons  to  greater  zeal,  and  they 
constructed  a  suitable  building  not  far  away  in  which 
capable  teachers  were  installed.  Mr.  Forrest  E.  Merrill 


40  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

and  Mr.  C.  K.  Tucker  were  the  energetic  principals  until 
the  school,  with  others,  was  turned  over  to  the  Educa- 
tion Society.  The  mutual  helpfulness  of  the  Academy 
and  the  Congregational  Church,  subsequently  organized, 
must  be  noted.  At  the  present  writing  the  pastor,  Kev. 
S.  H.  Goodwin,  is  also  principal  of  the  large  Academy. 
This  school  is  of  very  great  interest,  as  we  look  back 
through  the  perspective  of  years,  because  it  has  come  the 
nearest  to  the  ideal,  cherished  from  the  beginning  of  the 
New  West  movement.  There  were  much  larger,  more 
conspicuous  schools,  in  apparently  more  strategic  loca- 
tions, but  they  are  gone.  And  from  one  point  of  view 
little  is  left  to  mark  the  years  of  heroic  service.  Often 
today  we  may  find  the  former  schoolhouse  deserted  or 
sold  to  unsympathetic  tradesmen  for  other  uses,  the 
patrons  widely  scattered,  the  pupils  also  separated.  But 
in  the  case  of  Provo  the  school  itself  was  never  more 
prosperous  or  influential  for  good.  A  loyal  constituency 
immediately  surrounds  the  institution,  her  sons  and  her 
daughters  return  to  the  portals  on  cherished  anniversaries 
as  doves  to  their  windows.  The  question  springs  up 
unbidden,  "What  has  been  the  cause  of  this  evident 
success?"  Without  doubt  it  has  been  the  happy  union 
from  the  beginning  between  the  Academy  and  the  church. 
One  man,  who  would  have  no  conflicts  with  himself,  has 
been  the  guiding  spirit  of  both.  The  New  West  Educa- 
tion Commission  has  ceased  to  be,  but  the  lesson  of  her 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  41 

defeats  and  of  her  triumphs  should  not  be  forgotten  by 
the  Congregationalists  of  America. 

"Our  elders  can  outpreach  them  all/7  remarked  Brigham 
Young  boastfully,  with  reference  to  the  futile  efforts  of 
the  first  Protestant  missionaries  to  Utah.  There  was 
much  truth  in  the  statement.  It  must  be  confessed  that 
the  preaching  of  the  Protesitant  missionaries  brought  no 
returns  commensurate  with  the  vast  outlay  of  energy 
and  money  expended.  The  most  rigorous  efforts  to  convert 
adult  Mormons  were  seldom  rewarded.  Even  the  apostate 
Mormons,  of  which  there  were  many,  were  proof  against 
Christian  appeals.  But  the  church  of  the  Latter  Day 
Saints  was  not  secure,  as  it  thought.  There  were  thou- 
sands of  children  in  the  Mormon  homes — they  could  be 
reached.  Hence  the  scorn  of  the  Saints'  officials  was  ere 
long  turned  into  salutary  fear. 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOLS  OF  UTAH 


THE  RUEAL  SCHOOLS  OF  UTAH. 


Hurriedly  has  been  sketched  the  story  of  the  academies 
in  the  few  cities  of  Utah,  there  remains  the  greater  work 
to  be  briefly  told.  At  one  time  twenty  free  schools  in  rural 
districts  were  sustained  by  the  Commission.  It  is  impos- 
sible, with  the  space  at  command,  to  take  each  school 
separately.  Lehi  and  Kansas,  and  Fannington,  and 
Hooper,  and  Bountiful,  and  Sandy!  What  romance  is 
suggested  by  the  heroic  endeavor  of  the  teachers  of  their 
New  West  schools.  They  are  the  uncrowned  martyrs  of 
the  Commission,  who,  in  lonely  and  lowly  fields,  out  of  the 
sight  of  the  multitude,  beyond  the  plaudits  of  the  crowd, 
were  willing  to  spend  and  be  spent  if  the  glad  tidings 
of  life  and  light  could  be  borne  to  a  rising  generation. 
Theirs  was  a  sacrifice,  yet  a  reward.  *  *  * 

"Whose  pleasure  was  to  run  without  complaint 

On  unknown  errands  of  the  Paraclete!" 

The  teachers  of  these  out-of-the-way  schools  were  not 
heroes,  but  heroines ;  not  men,  but  women,  volunteered  to 
go  to  the  firing  line,  where  the  fight  was  the  hottest,  in 
the  warfare  for  virtue  and  decency.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
the  Mormon  ecclesiastics  feared  the  teachings  of  these 


46  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

faithful  evangelists  of  a  better  day  as  they  did  not  the 
instruction  given  in  the  larger  academies  in  the  cities. 
The  following  is  quoted  from  an  address  issued  by  Mor- 
mon elders  to  the  people  of  a  "stake"  or  district:  "The 
primal  purpose  of  the  teachers  of  the  so-called  New  West 
Education  Commission  should  receive  attention.  As 
avowed  by  this  Society  it  is  to  accomplish  what  the 
Edmund's  bill  contemplated,  but  failed  to  do.  Latter 
Day  Saints,  can  you  understand  this?  Under  pretense 
of  educating  your  children  their  mission  is  a  peculiarly 
delicate  one  because  a  religion  is  being  assailed.  Its 
denial  would  be  a  piece  of  arrant  hypocrisy,  a  vain 
pretense,  a  willful  falsehood.  By  promoting  dissension, 
inciting  rebellion,  bringing  about  disputes  between  the 
priests  and  the  people,  opposing  polygamy,  and  exercis- 
ing an  influence  over  Mormon  girls,  they  expect  to  plant 
the  first  gun  on  Mormon  soil." 

Park  City  is  one  of  the  thrifty  mining  towns  of  Utah, 
with  a  population  of  two  thousand,  almost  entirely 
Gentile.  Mr.  Dana  W.  Bartlett  opened  the  school  in  1882, 
with  Miss  Alice  Bridges  as  assistant.  Mr.  Forrest  Merrill 
was  then  placed  over  the  school,  assisted  by  Miss  Sarah 
I.  Gilbert.  Mr.  Herbert  B.  Haden  was  later  principal, 
Miss  Emily  H.  Dutton  assisting  him  in  the  lower  grades. 
Mr.  David  Dennis  and  Miss  Jennie  Latham  next  had  over- 
sight of  the  school.  The  success  of  the  school  paved 
the  way  for  the  organization  of  a  Congregational  Church, 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  47 

which  has  been  through  all  the  years  as  a  light  set  upon 
a  hill  which  can  not  be  hid. 

Heber  was  a  large  town,  almost  wholly  Mormon, 
seventy  miles  from  Ogden,  in  which  the  New  West  opened 
a  school.  The  long  list  of  its  teachers  would  include 
some  of  the  most  faithful  and  distinguished  in  the  service 
of  the  Commission. 

For  ten  years  a  successful  school  had  been  supported 
in  Sandy,  a  small  smelting  town  thirteen  miles  south  of 
Salt  Lake,  where  a  church  was  established.  The  two 
worked  together  harmoniously  for  the  upbuilding  of  the 
kingdom.  Huntsville,  a  small  town  in  the  mountains 
ten  miles  north  of  Ogden,  welcomed  a  school.  The 
people  were  Norwegian  converts  of  the  Mormon  Church. 
In  Lynne,  a  suburb  of  Ogden,  a  school  was  sustained. 
Coalville,  a  Mormon  town  on  the  Union  Pacific  Railway, 
saw  a  New  West  School  opened  in  1882,  which  was  a 
fountain  of  good  influences  for  years.  Miss  Rhoda  Beard, 
the  teacher,  formed  the  first  Christian  Endeavor  Society 
in  Utah. 

In  a  rented  log  house  in  Kamas  a  school  was  taught 
by  Miss  Nellie  D.  Biscoe  under  the  auspices  of  the  Com- 
mission. Lehi  was  another  scene  of  devoted  labors  and 
signal  success.  Here  a  fine  schoolhouse  was  erected 
and  a  Congregational  Church  followed.  Bountiful  could 
boast  of  a  substantial  stone  schoolhouse,  owned  by  the 
Commission,  in  the  center  of  a  Mormon  population  of  two 


48  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

thousand.  Rev.  D.  L.  Leonard,  for  years  the  superin- 
tendent of  Congregational  Missions,  preached  the  first 
Protestant  sermon,  and  later  organized  a  church  of  the 
Pilgrim  Faith.  Hooper  has  a  picturesque  location  on 
the  shores  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake.  Miss  Lydia  Tichenor, 
now  Mrs.  Bailey,  was  the  pioneer,  who  later  went  among 
the  churches  of  the  East  to  thrill  large  audiences  by  the 
romance  and  heroism  of  her  experiences. 

In  Farmington  the  Academy  of  the  Commission  had  a 
competitor  in  a  famousi  Stake  academy.  The  talented 
teacher,  Miss  Sarah  J.  Lester  who  met  a  tragic  death 
later,  abuilded  better  than  she  knew"  in  her  labors  here. 
Rev.  A.  M.  Peebles  was  the  missionary  pastor  whose 
regular  visits  assisted  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  school. 

Centreville  was  given  a  comfortable  stone  schoolhouse 
through  the  generosity  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church  of  Montclair,  N.  J.  Stockton  was  a  mining  town, 
with  progressive  Gentiles,  which  offered  virgin  soil  for 
faithful  efforts.  Morgan  and  Hoytsville  were  the  strong- 
holds of  Mormonism,  but  patient  Christian  teaching 
brought  reward.  Bingham  Canon,  "a  one-street  mining 
town,  six  miles  long  and  a  quarter-mile  wide,"  was  the 
scene  of  the  successful  labors  of  Miss  Mary  E.  Pease,  a 
Mt.  Holyoke  graduate.  Two  years  before  she  entered  the 
service  of  the  Commission,  while  visiting  the  home  of  a 
brother-in-law  in  Kansas,  she  declared  her  hope  to  be  a 
missionary  teacher  some  day.  The  incredulous  business 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  49 

man  smiled,  and,  tossing  her  a  nickel,  said,  "Here's  the 
corner  of  your  schoolhouse,"  and  a  Salt  Lake  City  horse- 
car  ticket  was  later  found,  when  he  exclaimed,  "You  may 
have  that,  too."  Four  years  from  that  day,  surely  enough, 
her  aspirations  were  providentially  fulfilled;  the  ticket 
was  used  and  the  nickel  deposited  in  the  cornerstone  of 
her  new  schoolhouse. 

In  the  rural  schools  of  the  New  West,  teaching  was 
only  a  small  part  of  the  daily  work  of  the  faithful  teachers. 
They  visited  the  sick,  comforted  the  dying  in  death,  pre- 
pared for  the  burial.  Mothers  early  turned  to  them  for 
assistance  in  learning  how  to  cook,  to  sew  and  to  beauti- 
fy their  humble  homes.  The  men,  so  often  illiterate, 
urged  them  to  read  to  them  the  papers  and  to  write  their 
business  letters.  The  children  soon  found  in  their  beloved 
teachers  friends  for  counsel  in  every  need.  Henefer, 
Wanship  and  Midway  witnessed  rewarding  labors  of  this 
character. 

Slaterville,  five  miles  from  Ogden,  with  no  outside  aid, 
built  a  new  schoolhouse  and  applied  to  the  New  West 
for  its  intelligent  supervision.  Miss  Anna  L.  Lyman,  Miss 
Mary  O.  Tabor  and  Miss  L.  L.  Yoder  were  in  charge  for 
six  years.  West  Jordan  was  organized  in  a  room  formerly 
used  as  a  saloon.  In  the  religious  exercises,  which  were 
a  prominent  feature  in  every  New  West  school,  God's 
word  was  taught  and  His  praise  zealously  sung  where 
once  drunken  carousals  were  nightly  occurrences. 


50  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

One  school  was  established  by  the  Commission  in  Idaho 
at  Oxford.  Miss  Virginia  Dox  was  the  pioneer  pedagogue. 
Her  novel  and  thrilling  experiences  she  used  with  rare 
power  and  eloquence  in  later  years  as  an  advocate  of  the 
Commission  in  many  states  of  the  Union.  The  Methodists 
founded  a  church  at  this  point  with  the  anticipation  of 
entering  also  upon  educational  work  as  well.  Desirous 
of  observing  the  spirit  of  comity,  our  teacher  was  with- 
drawn after  several  years  of  very  successful  service. 

Without  doubt  these  country  schools  saw  the  best  and 
worst  of  Mormonism.  As  a  vast  economic,  industrial 
system,  the  followers  of  Joseph  Smith  and  Brigham 
Young  achieved  vast  results.  A  wide  area  was  quickly 
settled,  law  and  order  were  established,  and  prosperity 
attained.  The  means  employed  to  bring  about  these  ends 
were  not  always  commendable.  The  autocratic  spirit  of 
the  officials  of  the  church  was  often  insufferable.  The 
theory  of  government  of  the  early  day  Saints  was  as 
peculiar  as  their  theology.  The  latter  is  voiced  in  the 
popular  hymns  of  the  Mormon  Church.  The  doctrine  that 
God  is  both  male  and  female  is  duly  set  forth  in  the 
following : 

"To  Kolob  now  my  thoughts  repair, 

Where  God,  my  Father,  reigns  above; 

My  heavenly  Mother,  too,  is  there, 
And  many  kindred  whom  I  love." 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  51 

Oelestial  marriage  is  portrayed  in  the  stanzas. 

"O!  when  my  work  on  earth  is  done 

May  I  be  honored  as  thy  son, 
Called  home  and  crowned  with  endless  lives, 

With  glory  and  celestial  wives." 
*  *  *  *  * 

"I  want  my  kingdom  to  increase 

Nor  through  eternity  to  cease; 
I  want  the  gift,  celestial  wives, 

Which  brings  the  power  of  endless  lives." 


52  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 


NEW  MEXICO. 


Long  the  "Children  of  the  Twilight," 
In  the  darkness  of  their  race. 
Eastward  looking,  have  been  watching 
For  their  God  "with  shining  face." 

?Tis  the  twilight  hour  of  morning, 
Harbinger  of  sunshine  bright. 
See !  the  clearness  of  the  dawning 
Dissipates  the  shades  of  night. 

Christian  teachers,  self-forgetting, 
Gladly  here  their  lot  have  cast; 
And  we  hear  the  children  crying : 
"God  remembers  us,  at  last !" 

Comes  the  looked-for  Montezuma? 
Is  it  he  upon  his  way? 
No;  it  is  the  radiant  Christ-Child. 
Bringing  in  the  glorious  day. 

M.  A.  T. 


TRINIDAD  ACADEMY. 


TKINIDAD   ACADEMY. 


Within  a  few  miles  of  the  southern  boundary  of  Colo- 
rado, just  over  the  line  from  New  Mexico,  is  the  thriving 
town  of  Trinidad.  In  1880,  when  the  New  West  Academy 
was  organized,  the  place  had  a  population  of  four  thou- 
sand. After  the  school  had  proved  its  necessity  and 
worth,  a  larger  and  permanent  home  was  demanded. 
The  citizens  contributed  liberally  for  the  purchase  of  the 
site,  a  conspicuous  elevation,  on  the  borders  of  the  town, 
overlooking  the  city  and  the  wide  plains  beyond.  In 
digging  for  the  foundation  the  workmen  discovered  the 
hill  was  in  prehistoric  ages  the  site  of  an  Indian  pueblo, 
and  many  interesting  relics  of  the  almost  extinct  race 
were  found. 

It  is  convincing  proof  of  the  wisdom  of  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Commission  that  in  so  many  cases  men  chosen 
in  the  very  beginnings  of  the  work  at  several  points  should 
remain  in  charge  year  after  year.  In  other  words,  the 
teachers,  themselves,  grew  as  the  institutions  developed. 
Such  was  the  choice  of  Mr.  Henry  E.  Gordon,  a  graduate  of 
Amherst  College,  for  the  principalship  of  Trinidad  Acade- 
my. He  remained  the  beloved  head  thirteen  years,  a  longer 


56  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

period  of  service  than  any  other  teacher  of  the  Society, 
save  Mr.  Benner  of  Salt  Lake.  Among  the  teachers  associ- 
ated with  him  were  Miss  Susie  W.  Benedict,  Miss  Eva  A. 
Hubbard,  Miss  E.  B.  Keese.  In  later  years-  came  Mr. 
Frederick  A.  Peck,  who  had  entire  charge  during  a  year's 
absence  of  Mr.  Gordon ;  Miss  A.  E.  Jordan,  Miss  Alys  S. 
Day  and  Miss  Kate  Carman.  Rev.  G.  J.  Tillotson,  of 
Connecticut,  made  a  generous  gift  toward  the  erection 
of  the  building,  whereupon  the  trustees  voted  unani- 
mously to  call  the  institution  by  his  name. 

The  environment  of  this  school  was  very  different  from 
all  the  others.  In  the  first  place  it  was  not  situated  in 
a  Territory,  but  in  a  State.  Colorado  very  early  enacted 
laws  favorable  to  the  development  of  a  good  graded  school 
system.  Again,  the  population  of  Trinidad,  though  mixed, 
did  not  contain  a  large  proportion  of  either  Mexicans  or 
Mormons.  In  fact,  the  latter  were  so  few  in  numbers  as 
to  be  of  no  significance.  The  students  of  the  Academy 
wrere  in  consequence  mainly  from  American  and  Protes- 
tant families.  For  years  there  was  no  high  school  main- 
tained in  the  public  school  system,  and  in  consequence  the 
Academy  never  lacked  for  pupils  of  advanced  grade. 
As  a  feeder  for  Colorado  College  bright  hopes  were 
always  entertained  of  its  increasing  usefulness  and  power. 

As  in  the  case  of  all  the  large  academies  of  the  New 
West  the  intellectual  aspects  of  the  work  were  only  a 
portion  of  the  features  manifest.  There  was  a  moral 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  57 

training  and  spiritual  enrichment  of  priceless  value. 
More  than  once  a  revival  of  marked  power  originated  in 
the  Academy  and  impelled  many  of  the  students  to  confess 
Jesus  as  their  Saviour  and  King.  Ten  years  after  the 
founding  of  the  Academy  a  Congregational  Church  was 
organized  in  Trinidad.  The  long  delay  was  almost  fatal 
to  its  growth  and  advancement,  but  after  many  vicissi- 
tudes the  organization  has  gained  strength  enabling  this 
church  to  labor  effectively  in  a  difficult  field. 


58  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 


THE  FAIR  SOUTHWEST. 


"We  hail  thee  now,  awakening  from  thy  sleep, 
Thou  land  of  rare  historic  wealth  and  grace; 
Thy  sunlit  vales  a  lovely  dwelling  place, 

Thy  hills  and  mountains  rich  with  treasure  deep, 

Traditions  strange  thy  old  cathedrals  keep ; 
And  still  in  thy  rich  archives  may  we  trace 
The  dusty  annals  of  a  Southern  race, 

Whose  thrilling  story  makes  our  pulses  leap. 

Long  hast  thou  slumbered !  and  thy  blinded  eyes 
Have  been  a  stranger  to  the  purer  ray ; 

But  now  the  light  illumes  the  Eastern  skies 
And  ushers  in  for  thee  a  brighter  day.  • 

O!  land  of  promise,  prophecy  and  power, 

We  hail  with  joy  thy  second  natal  hour." 

["H."  in  New  West  Gleaner,  December,  1891.] 


NEW  MEXICO  AND  ARIZONA. 


NEW  MEXICO  AND  ARIZONA. 

Columbus,  when  approaching  America  on  his  first  voy- 
age, observed  a  flock  of  paroquets  flying  over  his  three 
ships,  going  northeast.  Believing  that  the  birds  came 
from  land  not  far  away,  he  turned  his  fleet  in  the  direc- 
tion from  whence  they  came,  and  ere  long  cast  anchor  in 
the  harbor  of  the  island  of  San  Salvador.  Had  he  kept 
in  his  original  course  he  would  have  sailed  to  the  shores 
of  Virginia.  Was  ever  flight  of  parrots  so  momentous 
in  its  consequences!  If  the  intrepid  voyager  had  landed 
on  the  banks  of  the  James  he  would  have  claimed  pos- 
session in  the  name  of  his  soverign,  the  Spanish  monarch, 
as  he  did  on  the  isles  of  the  Southern  Sea,  Thereafter 
the  Latin  race,  the  Spanish  language  and  the  Roman 
religion  would  have  been  supreme  in  a  land  that  was 
reserved  in  the  providence  of  God  for  the  cooler  blood  of 
the  Saxon,  the  purer  faith  of  the  Protestant. 

The  thousands  of  later  adventurers  from  Southern 
Europe  who  followed  the  early  pioneers  were  content  to 
settle  in  the  sunny  climes  bordering  upon  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  Their  descendants,  north  of  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  now  number  twelve  millions.  Only  thirty-eight 


62  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

years  after  Columbus  discovered  the  New  World  Cabeza 
de  Vaca  penetrated  the  region  now  called  New  Mexico 
and  Arizona,  and  claimed  possession  for  his  king.  It  was 
ninety  years  before  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  reached  the  bleak 
shores  of  New  England.  Among  the  early  enthusiastic 
gold  seekers  were  faithful  priests,  who  were  willing 
companions  of  their  danger  and  toil  if  they  might  preach 
Christ  and  extend  the  dominion  of  the  Pope.  Their  heroism 
and  privations  read  like  a  romance.  Three  hundred  years 
this  out-of-the-way  country  had  been  controlled  by  the 
Spanish  government  and  the  Roman  church,  when  Old 
Mexico  declared  independence  in  1821.  Later  came  the 
not  altogether  creditable  war  with  the  neighboring 
Republic,  which  was  terminated  by  the  treaty  of  Guada- 
lupe  Hidalgo  in  1848,  which  made  New  Mexico  and 
Arizona  a  part  of  the  United  States. 

The  Mexican  of  today,  though  of  mixed  blood,  has 
inherited  the  Spanish  thought,  habits,  and  architecture 
of  three  hundred  years  ago.  It  is  a  case  of  arrested 
development.  As  the  Province  of  Quebec  in  Canada 
may  be  said  to  be  more  French  than  France  itself,  so  the 
far  southwest  stereotyped  a  civilization  that  was  utterly 
alien  to  the  remainder  of  the  country.  Even  now  it  is 
like  visiting  a  foreign  land  to  travel  over  the  wide  mesas 
of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona. 

These  two  Territories,  which  have  plead  so  persistently 
for  half  a  century  to  be  admitted  into  the  sisterhood  of 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  6S 

States,  are  imperial  in  extent,  containing  nearly  250,000 
square  miles — as  large  as  five  Englands,  or  thirty  times  the 
size  of  Massachusetts.  It  is  a  vast  region  of  southern  lati- 
tude and  immense  elevations.  The  altitude  determines  the 
temperature,  rather  than  the  former.  In  other  words,  the 
mountains  are  cool,  the  lowlands  are  hot.  Thus  all  climatic 
conditions  may  be  found.  No  portion  touches  the  sea,  nor 
are  there  lakes  or  navigable  rivers.  It  is  an  extensive  table- 
land of  sudden  surprises.  Yet  from  almost  any  point  can 
be  discerned,  losing  themselves  in  the  blue  haze  of  the 
distance,  ragged  sierras  and  castellated  mountain  chains. 
Extinct  volcanoes  may  be  found  by  the  seeking  down  into 
whose  craters  one  may  walk  amid  scenes  weird,  gloomy 
and  infernal.  Out  of  these  now  quiet  craters  have  flowed 
the  streams  of  lava  which  may  be  traced  in  places  for 
many  miles.  In  the  distance  these  great  lava  flows  of 
the  valley  resemble  huge  black  serpents  at  rest.  The 
crowning  features  of  the  landscape  are  the  towering 
peaks  bearing  their  diadems  of  perpetual  snow. 

Americans  are  better  acquainted  with  Europe  than 
they  are  with  these  wide  empires  of  the  Southwest.  In 
the  popular  mind  New  Mexico  and  Arizona  have  long 
been  associated  with  arid  wastes  and  torrid  heat,  lawless 
whites  and  hostile  Indians,  venomous  reptiles  and  poi- 
sonous insects.  Into  this  far  distant  land  of  opportunity, 
one  filled  with  song  and  legend,  with  history  so  ancient 
the  years  were  unnumbered,  the  pioneer  teachers  of  the 


64  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

New  West  Education  Commission  went  as  evangels  of 
a  new  era  and  civilization  to  proclaim  the  Christ  had 
come. 

At  the  time  of  their  first  arrival  the  population  of  the 
two  Territories  was  about  one  quarter  of  a  million  souls. 
The  different  elements  were  and  are  to  this  day  very 
distinct;  probably  more  so  than  in  any  other  portion  of 
the  American  Continent.  The  primitive  inhabitants  are 
the  Pueblos,  or,  as  they  are  popularly  called,  "Pueblo 
Indians."  They  number  15,000  and  are  mostly  in  New 
Mexico.  They  are  an  agricultural  people  and  have  always 
avoided  war.  The  nineteen  pueblos  (i.  e.  village  houses) 
are  built  of  stone  or  adobe,  formerly  erected  with  no 
doors  or  windows  in  the  first  story,  but  are  entered  by 
ladders  reaching  to  the  second  or  third  floor.  By  treaty 
the  United  States  government  has  given  them  title  to 
their  farms  and  the  suffrage.  They  gratefully  accepted 
the  former,  but  have  never  voted.  Aborigines  they  truly 
are,  still  plowing  with  a  forked  stick  and  harvesting  their 
scanty  crops  with  the  ancient  hand-made  sickle.  Their 
carts  are  crude  and  clumsy,  with  the  wheels  made  of 
cross  sections  of  a  log.  Nominally  they  are  members  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  but  they  still  practice  many 
heathen  customs. 

In  wide  contrast  to  these  primitive  people  are  the 
hitherto  savage  tribes,  so  well  known  because  of  their 
cruel  depredations.  But  there  is  another  side  to  the 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  65 

story.  Our  treatment  of  the  Indian  from  the  beginning 
is  a  dark  stain  upon  American  civilization.  One-fifth  of 
the  two  hundred  thousand  still  living  in  the  United 
States  dwell  in  these  two  Territories,  the  larger  portion 
being  in  Arizona.  Among  the  number  are  the  Apaches, 
Navajoes,  Yumas,  Pimas,  Papagoes  and  Moquis.  Formerly 
they  were  nomadic  and  wandered  here  and  there  over  the 
mountains  and  plains.  At  present  all  are  confined  to 
government  reservations.  These  Indians  are  stronger, 
physically  and  mentally,  than  the  Pueblos,  and  capable  of 
a  higher  civilization,  although  not  so  far  advanced. 

During  the  period  under  review  fully  one-half  the 
population  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona  was  composed 
of  the  so-called  Mexican  race.  They  are  dark  and  sallow 
in  complexion,  much  like  the  Cubans,  with  very  black 
hair  and  eyes,  short  and  slight  of  stature.  The  typical 
native  is  slow  and  quaint,  primitive,  and  picturesque  in 
spite  of  himself.  To  the  more  active,  nervous,  ambitious 
American  he  seems  a  sort  of  Rip  Van  Winkle,  out  of 
date,  a  relic  of  a  past  and  distant  age.  Yet  he  is  kind, 
patient,  good  natured  as  a  rule,  with  politeness  that  has 
the  charm  of  courtly  grace.  When  aroused  in  anger  his 
temper  is  something  dyamic,  and  not  always  wisely 
controlled.  As  a  money  maker  and  a  money  keeper  he 
is  seldom  a  success. 

In  early  life  the  Mexican  woman,  "the  senorita."  is 
often  strikingly  handsome,  but  her  beauty  soon  fades. 


66  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

Not  so  the  inborn  refinement,  which  endures,  for  even 
amidst  crushing  poverty  the  Castilian  dignity  does  not 
forsake  her.  As  in  all  the  Latin  races,  the  women  are 
fond  of  bright  colors,  nevertheless,  imitating  the  nuns 
of  the  Holy  Church,  their  favorite  garment  is  the  black 
shawl,  which  they  generally  wear  thrown  tastefully  over 
the  head.  In  intellectual  life  they  are  all  children,  for  the 
Roman  Church,  during  a  supremacy  of  three  centuries, 
has  never  manifested  any  desire  to  give  the  girls  the 
education  deemed  so  essential  in  all  Protestant  lands. 
When  the  New  West  began  its  missionary  labors  in  the 
Southwest  very  few,  indeed,  of  the  women  could  read  or 
write. 

Adobe  or  sun-dried  bricks  form  the  low,  thick  walls 
of  their  houses,  containing  small,  square  rooms  built 
around  the  placita,  or  along  a  corridor.  The  roof  timbers, 
or  ligas,  are  large  and  strong  to  support  the  rude  planks 
and  hay  over  which  earth  is  thickly  spread.  The  windows 
and  doors  are  few  in  number  and  small  in  size.  Wooden 
floors  are  the  exception.  Stoves  are  very  rare,  but  in 
their  stead  the  little  fireplace  in  the  corner,  in  which  are 
placed  the  pinon  sticks  on  end,  gives1  needed  cheer  and 
genial  warmth.  The  interior  is  whitewashed,  and  has  a 
dado  of  bright  colors.  With  hands  of  faith,  pictures  of 
the  saints,  the  Virgin  and  the  Saviour,  are  hung  upon  the 
walls.  Each  household  has  its  sacred  shrine  with  the 
upraised  crucifix.  A  few  pieces  of  furniture  suffice — the 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  67 

entire  home  equipment  could  be  purchased  fop  a  small 
sum.  Barns  and  outbuildings  they  do  not  have.  When 
crops  must,  of  necessity,  be  gathered  and  stored  they  are 
placed  upon  the  roofs  of  the  dwellings,  or  upon  raised 
platforms.  The  indispensable  red  chili  and  jerked  mutton 
are  hung  in  festoons  upon  the  outer  walls  to  dry  and 
cure. 

The  Mexicans  are  mentally  weak.  Peonage,  a  low  type 
of  bossism,  and  a  relic  of  the  medieval  age,  has  long  held 
them  in  bondage.  They  have  not  been  taught  to  do  their 
own  thinking.  The  religious  ceremonies  and  holy  day 
festivities,  in  which  their  lives  center,  do  not  call  for 
intellectual  activity.  When  Abraham  Lincoln  issued  his 
proclamation  he  did  not  emancipate  all  in  slavery  in 
our  land.  Here  is  a  race  that  has  been  shackled  in  mind 
and  soul  for  three  hundred  years  in  the  thraldom  of 
priestcraft.  Two  centuries  the  Roman  Church,  in  the 
two  Territories,  has  been  controlled  by  French  Jesuit 
priests.  There  is  not  one  native  Mexican  priest  in  the 
diocese,  nor  is  one  desired.  When  a  recruit  is  needed 
one  is  called  from  the  Jesuit  seminaries  of  France.  Be- 
fore the  writer  lies  a  list  of  the  priests  who  were  called 
to  a  "Catholic  Synod"  in  Santa  Fe  by  the  Most  Reverend 
Archbishop  P.  L.  Chapelle.  The  names  are  taken  in 
order  as  given,  with  the  names  of  the  towlns  in  which 
they  served:  J.  B.  Fayet,  San  Miguel;  J.  M.  Condert, 
Bernalillo;  J.  B.  Rolliere,  Tome;  C.  Seux,  San  Juan;  A. 


68  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

Redon  and  X.  Dumarest,  Anton  Chico ;  A.  Fourchegu,  H. 
Ponget,  L.  Mizeon,  J.  H.  Defouri,  M.  Mayen,  A.  Jonven- 
ceau  and  J.  Deroches,  Santa  Fe;  J.  Courbon,  El  Rito; 
FT.  Buyot,  Santa  Cruz;  R.  Medina,  Penasco;  Jos.  Volezy, 
Taos;  J.  B.  Brum  and  E.  Paulihan,  Socorro.  It  is  to 
be  noted  that  these  names  are  deeply  significant.  These 
Jesuits  have  always  been  bitterly  opposed  to  American 
ideas  and  customs,  and  this  opposition  explains  why  to 
this  day  the  territories  appear  to  the  traveled  American 
as  a  foreign  land. 

The  above  facts  prepare  the  reader  to  comprehend  the 
environment  into  which  the  early  teachers  of  the  Com- 
mission went  to  carry  the  Bible  and  schoolbook — two 
books  scarcely  known  to  a  majority  of  the  inhabitants. 
In  other  portions  of  our  country  we  have  heard  much 
of  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  Roman  priesthood  with  the 
public  schools.  In  many  places  the  dissatisfaction  amounts 
to  relentless  opposition.  With  added  pertinency,  the 
inquiry  arises,  "What  was  the  result  of  the  unbroken 
rule  of  the  Church  for  three  centuries  in  the  Territories  ?" 
Surely  the  ignorance,  poverty  and  superstition  of  the  one 
hundred  thousand  devotees  of  the  Pope  is  a  conclusive 
answer!  Until  the  Protestants  went  into  the  Southwest 
there  were  no  public  schools,  nor  were  they  desired  or 
permitted. 

In  order  that  the  social  status  of  the  territories  may  be 
understood,  several  more  factors  in  the  body  politic  must 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  69 

be  mentioned.  In  passing,  it  is  to  be  said  that  the  term 
"American"  is  applied  to  all  not  of  the  above  classes. 
Notwithstanding  the  southern  latitude  there  are  few 
Negroes.  Chinese  are  not  numerous,  save  in  the  one  city 
of  Tucson.  The  Jews  are  numerous  in  all  the  towns,  and 
are  very  prosperous.  In  the  leading  cities  and  mining 
towns  the  siettlers  from  the  Northern  and  Eastern  States 
are  influential  and  constantly  increasing.  Among  them 
are  always  to  be  found  men  of  ability  and  character  to 
whom  the  local  administration  of  the  schools  of  the 
Commission  could  be  wisely  intrusted.  People  come  and 
go  to  a  degree  unknown  in  the  North.  Society  is  in  a 
state  of  flux.  As  driftwood  seeks  the  edge,  so  here  on 
the  border  a  class  is  in  evidence,  however  small  in 
number,  that  would  be  no  credit  to  any  civilization. 
Then  there  are  others  who  have  come  seeking  health. 
More  and  more  this  vast  region  is  becoming  a  sanatorium 
for  the  world,  where  bronchial  and  consumptive  patients 
find  relief  if  not  cure.  It  is  evident  that  the  region, 
especially  in  the  70's  and  80's  was  a  hard  field  for  the 
missionary  teacher.  He  needed  great  faith,  grace  and 
grit  equally  so.  Large  classes,  fine  schoolhouses,  con- 
genial surroundings,  stimulating  libraries  and  kindred 
fellowship  were  not  his.  Even  to  a  greater  degree  than 
was  possible  to  her  male  associate  in  the  schools  did  the 
woman  realize  what  it  was  to  be  a  missionary — one  who 
is  sent.  Of  such  may  it  be  said  the  world  was  unworthy 


70  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

for  they  are  the  uncanonized  saints  of  our  churches.  All 
honor  to  these  uncrowned  heroines,  who,  in  far  out-of-the- 
way  places,  at  the  front  where  the  fight  is  the  thickest, 
toiled  on  from  year  to  year. 

The  sunlight  gleams  on  the  lofty  hills ; 

In  the  lovely  valleys  the  shadows  lie; 
The  heart  of  the  lover  of  Nature  thrills 

With  the  varied  beauty  of  earth  and  sky. 

I  stand  by  the  old  cathedral  walls ; 

Three  centuries  now  look  down  on  me; 
A  voice  from  the  past  through  the  silence  falls 

And  blends  with  the  voices  of  years  to  be. 

It  tells  of  a  long  and  lonely  night, 

When  the  stars  were  hid  and  the  moon  was  pale ; 
When  darkness  shrouded  the  mountain  height 

And  brooded  over  the  gloomy  vale. 

It  tells  of  a  blind  and  servile  trust 

In  bigot  leaders  with  blinded  eyes; 

Of  a  people  who  clung  to  their  native  dust, 
Nor  heeded  the  glow  of  the  purpling  skies. 

But  over  the  valley  I  look — and  see 

The  schoolhouse  walls,  and  the  church's  spire; 

Twin  heralds  of  glories  yet  to  be, 

Whose  light  shall  burn  like  a  living  fire. 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  71 

I  hear  the  voices  of  coming  years; 

I  see  a  people  arise  in  power; 
The  seed  which  was  sown  with  toil  and  tears 

Is  bursting  now  into  bud  and  flower. 

There's  a  smile  on  the  stolid  mother's  face, 
And  a  gleam  of  pride  in  the  father's  eye; 

For  the  children  are  gaining  a  nobler  place 
And  will  wield  the  siceptre  by  and  by. 

For,  lo!  the  shackles  are  breaking  fast, 

They  waken  who  once  in  slumber  lay. 

The  light  is  dawning;  the  night  is  past, 

On  the  Eastern  hills  are  the  steps  of  day. 

And  still,  as  we  furrow  the  fertile  earth, 
The  seed  we  scatter  with  pain  and  care ; 

We  wait  the  wonders  of  death  and  birth 
And  look  for  a  golden  fruitage  there. 

Hope  gladdens  the  watcher's  weary  eye, 

Though  the  noise  of  battle  is  long  and  loud, 

"Through  Christ  we  conquer!"    Be  this  our  cry, 
For  the  sign  of  the  cross  is  on  the  cloud. 


["H."  in  Christian  Education  and  New  West  Gleaner, 
November,  1890.] 


THE 
ACADEMIES  OF  NEW  MEXICO. 


THE  ACADEMIES  OF  NEW  MEXICO. 

Santa  Fe,  the  city  of  the  Holy  Faith  of  St.  Francis, 
from  time  immemorial  has  been  the  capital  of  the 
Spanish  Southwest.  Yea,  it  is  more ;  it  is  the  oldest  seat 
of  civil  and  religious  government  on  American  soil. 
When  Cabeza  de  Baca  penetrated  the  valley  of  the  wind- 
ing Rio  Grande,  he  found  there  a  flourishing  Pueblo 
village.  Not  until  1804  did  the  first  venturesome  Ameri- 
can trader  reach  the  ancient  city.  With  the  exception  of 
St.  Augustine,  it  is  the  oldest  town  in  the  United  States. 
Santa  Fe  is  a  queer  place,  with  its  low  mud  houses  and 
its  high  stone  cathedral,  with  its  narrow,  crooked  streets 
and  inspiring  outlook. 

It  is  a  city  in  which  violent  contrasts  are  ever  present, 
the  fifteenth  century  with  the  twentieth;  the  lights  with 
its  shadows;  its  palace  and  its  plaza;  its  dusjt  and 
donkeys  and  ditches.  The  writer  lived  in  the  city  more 
than  two  years  and  bears  personal  testimony  to  the 
unique  character  of  the  place  and  the  people.  The  arch- 
bishop of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  his  seat  in 
Santa  Fe.  The  military  headquarters  of  the  United 
States  Army  lend  a  distinct  quality  to  the  social  life. 


76  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

A  church  erected  before  the  English  came  to  America  is* 
still  standing.  The  city's  altitude  of  7,047  feet  gives  it 
an  incomparable  climate,  which  is  sought  by  invalids 
from  far  and  near. 

Secretary  Bliss  visited  the  quaint  city  several  times, 
and  the  following  from  his  pen  illumines  with  clear  light 
the  strange  conditions  of  the  old  Spanish  capital : 

"The  oldest  city  in  the  country,  it  can  boast  of  curious 
ancient  buildings  and  records,  and  of  many  specimens 
of  rude  art;  but  of  modern  life  it  can  show  but  little. 
In  some  respects  it  is  an  Oriental  city.  Costumes  pat- 
terned after  those  worn  in  Palestine  can  be  seen  on  its 
streets.  Pottery  that  might  have  been  made  in  Arabia  is 
sold  in  its  stores.  Beasts  of  burden,  apparently  imported 
from  Barbary,  laden  with  wood,  bound  like  barrels  about 
them,  thread  its  alleys.  Complexions  swarthy  enough  to 
belong  to  the  Bedouins  confront  you  frequently,  and 
women,  closely  veiled  and  clothed  in  black,  flit  across 
your  path  at  every  corner. 

"The  apparent  sadness  of  the  native  population  arrests 
your  attention.  Faces  more  careworn  and  depressed  than 
those  you  will  see  every  Sunday  thronging  the  cathedral 
can  hardly  be  found  on  earth.  The  very  religion  of  the 
people  seems  to  be  fearfully  pathetic.  A  stamp  of  anxiety, 
such  as  the  Inquisition  must  have  left  on  the  features  of 
the  men  and  women  living  under  its  shadow,  is  a  Mexican 
heritage.  The  hard  conditions  of  life  to  which  the  people 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  77 

are  subject  may  seem  to  some  to  account  for  this  strange 
fact. 

"Yet  the  more  one  studies  the  problem  the  clearer  he 
will  see  that  their  religion  does  not  relieve,  but  rather 
intensifies,  their  apparent  misery.  It  is  evidently  a  kind 
of  religion  that  does  not  touch  their  better  natures.  It 
appeals  to  their  fears,  enshrouds  them  in  superstitions, 
stimulates  feelings  of  dread  and  awe,  and  offers  nothing 
to  their  spirit  of  inquiry.  No  wonder  the  pall  of  hopeless- 
ness rests  upon  their  lives.  Nor  is  it  strange  that  under 
such  unnatural  conditions  vices  thrive,  ignorance  per- 
petuates itself,  the  spirit  of  progress  is  unattainable,  and 
the  people  stand  in  the  way  of  their  own  prosperity.  It 
will  only  be  when  the  teacher  and  the  school  shall  share 
with  the  priest  and  the  Church  the  care  of  the  young  in 
New  Mexico  that  better  conditions  will  prevail,  a  truer 
life  be  attained,  and  the  people  become  a  worthy  and 
helpful  portion  of  American  society." 

Two  years  before  the  New  West  Education  Commission 
was  organized  the  Academy  was  established  in  Santa  Fe, 
and  maintained  under  the  auspices  of  President  E.  P. 
Tenney,  of  Colorado  College,  and  Kev.  C.  R.  Bliss.  It  is 
the  oldest  of  all  the  New  West  schools,  save  that  in  Salt 
Lake.  Prof.  William  Strieby  Was  the  capable  principal 
two  years. 

In  1880,  the  Commission  having  been  organized,  the 
academies  in  Salt  Lake  and  Santa  Fe  were  assumed ;  the 


78  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

New  West  paying  accumulated  bills  amounting  to  f  2,269. 
Rev.  H.  O.  Ladd,  who  was  prominent  in  the  educational 
advancement  of  the  city  for  ten  years  subsequently,  was 
the  second  principal.  He  served  one  year,  when  he  with- 
drew to  inaugurate  a  school  under  his  private  manage- 
ment, which  was  called  the  University  of  New  Mexico. 
This  effort  to  establish  an  university  at  this  time  when 
only  pupils  of  grammar  grade  were  in  attendance,  did 
not  meet  with  the  approval  of  the  Commission.  Mr. 
Arthur  J.  Clough  was  next  appointed  principal,  assisted 
by  Miss  Ella  C.  Atkinson  and  Miss  E.  S.  Hildreth.  At 
the  close  of  the  year  the  school  was  closed  for  prudential 
reasons. 

After  several  years,  in  1888,  the  University  of  New 
Mexico,  which  had  been  supported  almost  wholly  by 
New  England  Congregational ists,  was  closed  because  of 
financial  difficulties.  Its  president,  Rev.  H.  O.  Ladd,  had 
left  the  denomination.  At  the  request  of  citizens  of 
Santa  Fe  the  Commission  opened  a  school  under  the 
guidance  of  Mrs.  E.  H.  Murphy,  assisted  by  Miss  Amelia 
Nehber.  Prof.  M.  R.  Gaines,  a  successful  teacher  in 
Japan  under  the  American  board,  was  in  charge  the 
following  two  years.  July  1,  1893,  after  a  year  of  hard 
work  with  good  results  under  the  instruction  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  William  H.  Perry,  the  Commission  closed  the  school. 

Santa  Fe  is  not  only  the  capital  of  the  territory, 
but  it  is  the  ecclesiastical  center  of  the  Roman  Church, 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  79 

which  maintains  in  several  very  flourishing  institutions 
a  large  number  of  priests,  teachers  and  nuns*  The  lead- 
ing mercantile  establishments  are  owned  by  prosperous 
Hebrews.  At  an  elevation  of  considerably  over  a  mile 
above  sea  level,  twenty  miles  from  the  main  line  of  the 
railway,  and  with  a  heterogeneous  population  that  has 
lacked  unity  of  purpose,  the  city  has  not  been  able  to 
compete  successfully  with  surrounding  towns  more 
favorably  situated.  A  sum  exceeding  two  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  has  been  expended  in  the  city  by  agencies, 
which  have  derived  their  income  from  the  Congregational 
Churches  of  the  country.  In  very  few  cities  or  towns 
of  the  West  has  benevolence  been  extended  so  generously, 
and,  if  the  truth  must  be  told,  probably  in  no  other  are 
the  permanent  results  so  few  and  disappointing. 

Mostly  true,  no  doubt,  as  to  actual  and  immediate 
results,  but  its  various  indirect  influences  affecting 
educational  interests  in  the  State  have  been  important — 
particularly  as  leading  to  the  establishment  of  the 
Territorial  System  of  public  schools.  Certain  of  the 
governors  of  the  Territory  were  of  high  culture,  and 
society  was  early  and  greatly  interested  in  our  school, 
and  later  in  the  development  of  the  public  school  system. 

Prof.  H.  O.  Ladd,  though  he  made  some  mistakes,  had 
no  little  influence  in  promoting  the  cause  of  education. 

Albuquerque  Academy  had  its  origin  in  1879,  when  the 
following  associated  themselves  together  and  incorporated 


80  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

the  "Trustees  of  Albuquerque  Academy/'  Elias  S.  Stover, 
William  C.  Hazeltine,  Franz  Huning,  Albert  Grunsfeld, 
Rufus  C.  Vose,  Henry  Springer  and  Charles  W.  Lewis. 
They  served  as  a  local  advisory  board,  the  school  being 
sustained  and  controlled  by  Colorado  College,  Colorado 
Springs,  Colorado.  At  the  close  of  the  firat  term  the 
report  that  twenty-six  pupils  had  been  in  attendance 
elicited  applause. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  second  year  the  school  was 
transferred  to  the  newly  organized  New  West  Education 
Commission  of  Chicago.  For  two  years  the  school 
occupied  the  characteristic  adobe,  or  mud  house,  which 
stood  near  the  old  Mexican  cathedral,  founded  two 
centuries  before  by  the  Spaniards.  Charles  S.  Howe,  a 
graduate  of  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College,  who 
came  with  the  highest  commendations  from  work  in 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  was  the  first  principal.  Miss  Mary 
Snyder,  a  graduate  of  Oberlin,  now  the  wife  of  W.  E. 
Hazeltine,  of  the  Bank  of  Arizona,  Prescott,  was  the 
first  assistant  teacher.  Mr.  A.  S.  McPherron  was  in 
charge  from  1881  to  1885.  H.  B.  Lawrence,  Frank 
Burnette  and  F.  E.  Whittemore  each  served  for  a  time  as 
principal,  or  until  1887  when  Charles  E.  Hodgin,  a 
graduate  of  the  Indiana  State  Normal,  was  placed  over 
the  destinies  of  the  growing  institution. 

Among  the  men  who  have  served  on  the  local  board 
of  supervision  of  this,  the  largest  school  of  the  Commission, 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  81 

may  be  mentioned,  in  addition  to  those  already  named: 
D.  L.  Sammis,  A.  M.  Whitcomb,  J.  H.  Drury,  Adolph 
Harsh,  W.  S.  Burke,  M.  Ousters,  E.  D.  Bullock,  Karl  A. 
Snyder,  R.  B.  Myers,  E.  W.  Spencer,  Aaron  Rosenwald, 
F.  H.  Kent,  Edward  Medler,  J.  C.  Marshall,  M.  W. 
Flournoy,  A.  G.  Otero,  8.  M.  Folsom,  M.  C.  Nettleton,  Dr. 
C.  E.  Winslow,  Calvin  Whiting. 

In  the  autumn  of  1881  the  school  was  moved  to  the 
new  town,  to  an  adobe  building  on  Lead  Avenue,  between 
Third  and  Fourth  Streets.  A  year  later  on  twelve  lots 
donated  on  Silver  street  a  structure  was  erected,  which 
was  the  home  of  the  school  until  outgrown.  The  property 
was  sold  to  Jesus,  B.  Armijo  for  $5,000  in  April,  1888. 
Perkins  Hall  was  first  occupied  at  its  dedication  Decem- 
ber 30,  1890.  It  was  erected  on  lots  presented  by  the 
citizens  of  the  city,  and,  counting  the  high  basement,  is 
three  stories  in  height,  upon  a  ground  plan  fifty-five  by 
eighty -five  feet,  and  cost  the  Commission  twenty-two 
thousand  dollars.  The  total  outlay  represented  an  ex- 
penditure of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars. 

The  New  West  schools  were  potent  factors  in  the  rapid 
development  of  Albuquerque  since  Secretary  Bliss  first 
came  as  the  representative  of  the  Congregational  Churches. 
We  may  profitably  quote  at  this  point  remarks  made  at 
the  dedication  by  the  secretary  of  the  New  West :  "It  is 
now  a  little  more  than  eleven  years  since  I  first  saw  this 
beautiful  locality.  Armed  with  letters  of  introduction 


82  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

from  the  citizens  of  Santa  Fe,  I  took  passage  in  the  old 
Santa  Pe  stage  one  forenoon  in  June,  1879,  and  after  a 
journey  which  it  is  impossible  to  forget,  a  journey  of 
jolting,  prolonged  through  the  night  and,  by  reason  of 
overflown  acequias,  enlivened  by  threatened  overturns 
and  numberless  ascents  and  descents,  robbing  the  only 
passenger  of  both  sleep  and  patience,  I  found  myself  at 
early  dawn  at  the  door  of  an  adobe  hotel  in  the  old  town. 
The  proprietor,  soon  appearing,  the  uproar  of  a  half-a- 
score  of  dogs  was  silenced,  bade  me  welcome  to  his 
hospitable  house." 

At  the  time  of  the  dedication,  so  rapid  had  been  the 
growth  of  the  town,  it  had  become  the  railway,  com- 
mercial and  financial  center  of  the  entire  Territory.  The 
students  enrolled  in  the  Academy  that  year  numbered 
four  hundred,  out  of  a  population  of  six  thousand.  The 
talented  teachers  had  brought  new  strength  and  efficiency 
to  the  Congregational  Church,  which  had  become  self- 
supporting  and  worshipped  in  the  most  beautiful  sanc- 
tuary of  the  city.  Nowhere  can  be  found  annals  more 
resplendent  with  rare  devotion,  keen  intelligence,  quick 
sympathies,  high  ideals  of  duty,  unflinching  self-denial 
and  heroic  perseverance  in  Christ's  name  than  in  the 
unwritten  history  of  the  deeds  of  the  New  West  teachers. 

Charles  E.  Hodgin,  until  placed  at  the  head  of  the  city 
schools  of  Albuquerque,  was  the  beloved  and  capable 
executive.  With  him  through  the  years  were  teachers 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  83 

whose  lives  and  labors  are  eminently  worthy  of  extended 
eulogy.  Mrs.  L.  A.  Collings  deserves  to  be  placed  high  on 
the  Commission's  roll  of  honor.  Among  the  first  of 
the  .teachers  to  go  to  New  Mexico,  she  remains  to  this 
day  in  the  service,  with  a  generation  her  acknowledged 
debtors.  Miss  Ella  J.  Buckingham,  Miss  C.  E.  Gaston,  Mrs. 
C.  E.  Lewis,  Miss  Fannie  Overman,  Miss  Laura  A.  Hodgin 
were  among  the  number  who  did  valiant  service  in 
Albuquerque,  but  did  not  remain  long.  Miss  M.  Winslow, 
a  graduate  of  Oberlin,  after  years  of  efficient  grammar 
school  work,  was  promoted  to  take  charge  of  the  high 
school.  Miss  Cora  E.  Marsh,  Miss  Lou  Lee,  Miss  Ella  F. 
Garlick  (who  later  married  a  fellow  teacher,  now  Rev. 
J.  Sidney  Gould),  Miss  Sue  Harlow  were  fortunate  in 
laboring  at  the  time  of  the  Academy's  greatest  prosperity. 
Miss  Jennie  L.  Pratt  did  self-sacrificing  work  in  charge 
of  a  Mexican  school  in  the  suburbs;  Miss  Virginia  Dox 
was  also  in  a  similar  school.  Miss  Ida  L.  Frost,  in 
another  suburb,  across  the  river,  after  persecution  and 
great  self-denial,  witnessed  the  organization  of  a  Mexican 
Congregational  Church  as  the  result  of  her  school's 
success.  One  who  filled  a  unique  place  for  many  years 
was  Miss  Mary  E.  Gilmore,  a  woman  of  rare  gifts  of  heart 
and  rnfnd.  She  was  the  talented  teacher  of  music  in  the 
Academy,  and  organist  of  the  Congregational  Church 
eighteen  years. 


84  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

No  other  work  of  the  Commission  probably  was  so 
influential  in  molding  public  opinion.  Nearly  three 
thousand  students  were  enrolled  during  the  thirteen  years. 
They  came  from  different  parts  of  the  territory,  and,  after 
instruction,  scattered  widely.  A  new  law  enacted  by  the 
legislature  permitted  municipalities  to  tax  themselves  to 
erect  schoolhouses  and  sustain  schools.  Thus  public 
schools  came  more  quickly  than  was  anticipated.  Mr.  G. 
Byron  Smith  efficiently  served  a  year  as  principal  before 
the  Academy  was  closed. 

Las  Vegas,  the  city  of  the  meadows,  contained  a  popula- 
tion of  six  thousand  in  1880.  There  are  really  two  towns, 
one  Mexican  and  one  American.  It  is  the  county  seat 
of  San  Miguel  County,  one  of  the  largest,  most  populous 
and  wealthy  in  the  Territory.  The  county  contains  nearly 
eleven  thousand  square  miles — larger  than  the  States  of 
Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island  combined. 

In  the  summer  of  1880  a  corporation  was  formed.  The 
local  trustees  at  once  rented  an  adobe  store  of  two  rooms, 
in  which  the  school  was  opened  in  the  autumn  with  thirty 
pupils.  Soon  the  academy  required  more  room  and  a 
frame  building  was  erected.  This  proved  inadequate  ere 
long.  Two  years  later  a  substantial  brick  structure  was 
built  at  a  total  cost  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars ;  one-half 
was  provided  by  the  citizens.  It  was  the  first  academy 
to  be  equipped  with  a  permanent  home. 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  85 

"Father  Ashley"  as  he  will  always  be  called  in  New 
Mexico,  being  the  pioneer  missionary  of  our  faith  to  this 
land  of  darkness,  gave  two  daughters  to  the  New  West 
work  who  were  among  the  first  to  volunteer  for  its  service. 
In  choosing  a  principal  for  the  new  academy  in  Las 
Vegas,  a  son  of  the  above  was  called,  Rev.  Walter  H. 
Ashley.  He  remained  nine  years,  when  a  change  from 
the  high  altitude  of  6,500  feet  was  demanded.  Few  men 
are  ever  privileged  to  witness  so  great  a  transformation 
as  did  he  in  the  life  of  the  people.  In  this  development 
the  academy  bore  an  honorable  share. 

Among  the  first  associated  with  Mr.  Ashley  were  Miss 
Annie  G.  Wood,  Mrs.  Lucy  K.  Campbell,  Mrs.  C.  B. 
Smith,  Mrs.  Harriet  B.  Jaynes,  Mrs.  L.  R.  Graves  and 
Mrs.  J.  B.  Dickinson.  In  later  years  of  his  administra- 
tion were  Miss  Jennie  B.  Pratt,  Miss  Bettie  Gerrard,  Mr. 
Charles  Miller  and  Miss  Lucy  Stone.  Mr.  George  S. 
Ramsay  was  in  charge  three  years,  assisted  by  Miss 
Dorrie  Stahl,  Miss  J.  H.  Hegman  and  Miss  S.  E.  William- 
son. Mr.  N.  C.  Campbell  was  then  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  institution  and  remained  two  years. 

When  the  academy  was  opened  in  Las  Vegas,  there  was 
not  a  public  school  in  the  entire  territory,  and,  what  is 
more,  there  was  not  a  law  on  the  statutes  to  make  such 
an  institution  possible.  The  Commissioner  of  Education, 
in  his  report  to  Congress  in  1879,  says:  "The  system  in 
New  Mexico  seems  to  be  to  have  no  system.  There  is  no 


86  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

demand  that  the  teachers  shall  have  any  proven  qualifi- 
cations, intellectual  or  moral;  no  requirement  that  school 
training  shall  be  in  English,  it  being  now  largely  in  the 
Spanish,  and  no  prohibition  of  sectarian  influences  in  the 
schools — which  there  is  reason  to  believe  prevail  exten- 
sively." This  same  competent  authority  states  only 
seventeen  per  cent  of  the  school  population  are  enrolled 
in  schools,  whereas  the  average  for  the  United  States  is 
sixty-three.  One-half  the  adults  of  New  Mexico  could 
not  read. 

One  of  the  oldest  educational  institutions  in  New 
Mexico  was  the  Jesuits'  College,  long  maintained  in  Las 
Vegas.  Like  all  the  Roman  Catholic  schools  the  tuition 
was  high  and  only  sons  of  the  well-to-do  could  attend. 
Chagrined  that  the  new  Protestant  academy  should 
prosper,  and  even  draw  pupils  aways  from  their  own 
school,  they  moved  their  college  bag  and  baggage  to  Denver. 
Another  school,  of  similar  grade,  was  organized  and 
sustained  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South,  two 
blocks  from  the  New  West  Academy.  This  leads  me  to 
say  that  one  of  the  most  distressing  features  of  Protestant 
missionary  work  in  the  Western  States;  and  Territories 
has  been  the  lack  of  Christian  comity.  Because  of  it,  in 
the  place  of  a  common  enemy,  churches  as  well  as  schools, 
maintained  by  missionary  gifts,  have  been  organized  only 
to  languish.  In  the  early  90's  public  school  buildings, 
spacious  and  equipped  with  all  modern  conveniences, 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  87 

were  opened  and  manned  by  capable  teachers,  mostly 
from  the  East.  The  New  West  Academy  was  therefore 
closed. 

White  Oaks  was  a  town  of  about  a  thousand  people, 
nestled  among  mountains,  several  hundred  miles  south- 
east of  Albuquerque.  A  Congregational  Church  had  been 
doing  the  Master's  work  for  several  years,  when,  in  1889, 
at  the  urgent  request  of  many  citizens,  an  academy  was 
opened,  with  Miss  Abbie  F.  Hull,  of  Connecticut,  in 
charge.  During  the  two  years  the  school  was  continued 
the  attendance  was  limited  by  the  capacity  of  the  only 
building  available.  Although  the  academy  was  so  soon 
closed,  the  results  were  abiding. 

I>eming  is  a  town  in  Southern  New  Mexico,  where  the 
Santa  Fe  Railway  reaches  the  great  Southern  Pacific 
Line.  Here  a  Congregational  Church  had  long  been  a 
forceful  factor  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  country.  In  1889 
an  academy  was  opened  by  the  Commission  under  the 
guidance  of  Mr.  F.  W.  C.  Hayes  and  his  accomplished 
wife.  This  school  was  the  forerunner  of  a  public  school, 
which  was  soon  established,  and  the  New  West  withdrew 
at  the  end  of  the  second  year. 

Among  the  leading  citizens  who  assisted  in  the 
establishment  of  the  school  were  the  Rev.  A.  M.  Pipes, 
pastor  of  the  church;  Jas.  A.  Lockhart,  S.  H.  Pendleton, 
W.  P.  Tossell,  Chas.  H.  Dane,  Sigmund  Lindauer  and  E. 
A.  Kidder.  The  enthusiasm  with  which  the  academy  was 


88  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

greeted  can  not  efface  the  remembrance  of  the  opposition 
aroused.  It  was  always  so.  The  week  following  the 
canvass  of  the  town  by  the  superintendent  on  the  field  for 
subscriptions  toward  the  equipment  of  the  building  offered 
by  the  citizens'  committee  the  following  appeared  in  the 
weekly  paper,  inserted  by  the  teacher  of  a  private  school : 
"My  school  does  not  seek  patronage  from  the  pauperized 
beneficiaries  of  any  perverted  charity.  The  blush  of 
shame  will  not  be  brought  to  the  cheek  of  such  people 
by  the  knowledge  that  the  beggar's  hat  is  sent  around 
in  Deming  for  this  school,  or  that  servant  girls  and  farm 
laborers  in  the  East  are  inveighed  into  giving  five  cents 
for  Jesus,  and  five  dollars  for  Praise — God — Barebones 
to  teach  the  pauper  children  of  New  Mexico." 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOLS  OF   NEW 
MEXICO  AND  ARIZONA. 


THE  EURAL  SCHOOLS  OF  NEW  MEXICO 
AND  ARIZONA. 


The  direst  poverty  and  the  most  hopeless  illiteracy 
were  found  in  the  country.  In  the  cities  and  towns  the 
people  were  not  so  abjectly  under  the  priests,  and  the 
exigencies  of  business  made  them  seek  education  for  their 
children.  So  difficult  was  it  found  to  get  a  foothold  in 
some  communities  because  of  prejudice,  persecution  and 
indifference,  the  history  of  several  schools  is  little  more 
than  the  record  of  baffled  attempts.  A  teacher  was  sent 
to  Bernalillo,  in  the  Bio  Grande  Valley.  The  attendance 
was  so  small  she  was  soon  withdrawn.  Like  results 
followed  in  Los  Ranches  de  Albuquerque  and  Armijo, 
save  the  schools  were  sustained  a  year. 

Cubero  is  a  small  Mexican  hamlet  in  the  high  mesas 
of  Western  New  Mexico.  It  is  at  the  foot  of  the  snow- 
capped peak  of  Mount  Taylor,  one  of  the  highest  of  the 
high  Rockies.  Not  far  away  are  the  ancient  pueblos  of 
the  Lagunas  and  Acomas,  while  to  the  west  are  the 
wide  plains  upon  which  roam  the  warlike  Navajoes  and 
the  dread  Apaches.  Never-falling  springs  are  here  found. 
In  1884  Father  Ashley  was  authorized,  after  a  careful 
investigation  by  himself,  to  open  a  school.  He  sent  his 


92  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

daughter,  Mrs.  Hepsibah  Rood.  On  her  arrival  the  French 
Jesuit  priest  forbade,  under  the  penalty  of  excummuniea- 
tion  and  eternal  damnation,  the  parents  to  send  their 
children.  The  outlook  was  not  promising,  surely.  But 
in  time  she  found  in  the  village  a  sewing  machine,  which 
no  one  knew  how  to  run,  and  her  skill  in  the  use  of  it 
set  the  people  thinking.  Her  kindness  and  wisdom  in 
nursing  a  dying  man  disarmed  the  prejudice  of  others. 
Then  her  little  organ  reached  the  school,  and  her  singing 
won  all  hearts.  Mrs.  Rood  remained  six  months.  Then 
Miss  Emily  M.  Clapp  was  sent,  but  her  stay  was  of  a 
month's  duration.  Miss  Schollenberg  then  braved  the 
isolation  and  remained  six  months,  when  the  school  was 
closed  for  several  years.  At  length  Mrs.  L.  A.  Collings, 
who  had  long  acceptably  served  the  Commission  in 
Albuquerque,  volunteered  to  go  to  this  distant  outpost  in 
January,  1895,  and  to  the  date  of  this  writing  she  has 
remained,  with  her  daughter,  Miss  Laura  W.,  faithfully 
doing  the  Master's  work.  She  writes  lately  of  her  work : 
"Public  sentiment  has  shown  a  steady  and  marvelous 
development  in  decency,  in  cleanliness,  in  self  respect, 
and  in  patriotism.  The  deportment  and  recitation  of  the 
pupils  would  be  a  credit  to  any  school."  A  Sunday  school 
has  always  been  maintained,  and  through  the  personal 
labors  of  Rev.  Gordon  E.  Birlew,  the  home  missionary  in 
San  Rafael,  a  convenient  and  comfortable  schoolhouse 
and  home  were  built  in  1900. 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  93 

In  1002  a  school  was  begun  in  Seboyeta,  which  has  a 
promising  prospect.  Another  began  in  November,  1899, 
in  Cabezon,  but  was  closed  at  the  end  of  the  second  year. 
After  many  vicissitudes  the  school  in  San  Mateo  was 
reopened  in  December,  1895,  two  years  after  the  New 
West  ceased  to  exist  as  a  separate  society.  The  hamlet 
of  Losi  Ranchos  de  Atrisco,  a  suburb  of  Albuquerque, 
welcomed  a  school  in  1892,  and  here  a  large  work  has  been 
done,  a  Sunday  school  of  far-reaching  influence  was 
organized  by  the  teacher,  Miss  Ida  L.  Frost.  Later  a  Con- 
gregational Church  was  established  by  its  lamented  pastor, 
the  Rev.  Lorenzo  M.  Ford,  a  full-blooded  Pueblo  Indian, 
the  only  one  of  his  race  ever  ordained  a  minister  of  the 
gospel. 

San  Rafael  is  a  picturesque  hamlet  of  adobe  houses, 
grouped  along  the  borders  of  a  wide  mesa.  As  is  so  often 
the  case  in  Mexican  settlements,  abundant  springs  of  pure 
water  were  the  attractive  features.  Here  was  opened  the 
first  of  our  purely  Mexican  schools  in  the  country.  A 
permanent  house  was;  built,  as  also  a  church  building,  in 
which  the  Rev.  Ezekiel  C.  Chavez,  the  second  Mexican  to 
be  ordained  to  the  ministry  by  Congregationalists, 
ministered.  The  place  is  ninety  miles  w^est  of  Albu- 
querque, and  three  miles  from  a  small  station  of  the 
transcontinental  railway.  In  1884,  when  the  teacher  first 
reached  the  town,  no  one  could  read  or  write,  man  or 
woman.  After  many  years  of  loyal  service  one  of  our 


94  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

most  respected  teachers  writes  me:  "In  my  own  experi- 
ence among  the  parents  whose  children  have  been  in  my 
school  I  have  never  found  but  one  woman  of  middle  age 
who  could  read  (in  Spanish)  and  write." 

In  1889,  in  a  suburb  of  Albuquerque  called  Barelas,  a 
school  was  opened  for  the  Mexican  children  of  the  com- 
munity. Few  of  them  had  ever  attended  school.  The 
methods  of  the  New  West  were  employed,  as  heretofore, 
with  success.  Again  it  was/  found  the  lady  teacher  is 
welcomed  in  homes  when  the  Protestant  minister  is 
regarded  with  suspicion.  And  in  this  school  for  years 
the  lives  of  consecrated  teachers  were  living  epistles, 
preaching,  by  daily  ministry,  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation.  Miss  Jennie  B.  Pratt,  of  Connecticut,  labored 
here  with  much  self-denial  for  several  years.  At  one  time 
the  attendance  was  the  largest  among  the  schools  for  the 
Mexicans. 

In  the  Rio  Grande  Valley,  south  of  Albuquerque  thirty 
miles,  is  the  town  of  Belen.  It  is  a  typical  Mexican  village 
with  its  crooked  streets,  adobe  houses  and  scarcity  of 
trees.  Farming  is  the  main  occupation,  which  is  carried 
on  in  a  very  primitive  way.  Mentally,  these  descendants 
of  the  ancient  pioneers  are  children.  Miss  Emily  H.  Beck- 
with,  after  retiring  from  teaching  in  the  place,  raised 
among  her  friends  in  New  England  a  sum  sufficient  to 
erect  a  tasteful  building.  In  latter  years  German  families 
settled  in  the  community,  and  the  schoolhouse  was  sold 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  95 

to  the  Lutherans,  who  had  previously,  bj**  permission, 
used  it  several  years  for  their  religious  services  on  Sun- 
days. 

Arizona  contained  113,000  square  miles,  and  consider- 
ably less  than  100,000  inhabitants  when  the  New  West, 
in  September,  1883,  established  its  first  schools  in  the 
Territory  in  Holbrook,  Springerville  and  St.  Johns.  At 
the  time  of  this  peaceful  invasion  of  teachers  Arizona 
needed  more  water  and  less  politics,  more  religion  and 
less  deviltry,  more  farmers  and  fewer  politicians,  more 
education,  less  bigotry,  more  light,  less  darkness. 

From  the  first  Arizona  had  been  more  progressive  than 
her  sister  Territory  of  New  Mexico.  Although  the  former 
contained  over  30,000  Indians,  a  larger  number  propor- 
tionately than  the  adjoining  territory,  the  Mexican  race 
was  relatively  much  weaker.  At  the  time  of  which  we 
speak  California  was  entering  upon  an  era  of  unparal- 
leled prosperity.  Thousands  upon  thousands  were  seeking 
the  El  Dorado,  whose  fame  had  gone  out  to  all  the  earth. 

For  a  time  the  development  of  the  Territory  was  very 
rapid.  Mines  were  profitably  opened,  ranches  were 
improved,  cities  and  towns  grew  in  the  night.  A  progress- 
ive element  made  its  influence  felt,  especially  in  the 
capital  city,  Phoenix,  and  in  Preseott,  the  largest  town 
in  the  northern  half.  The  old  Spanish  trading  center, 
Tucson,  was  the  headquarters  of  the  Roman  Church, 


96  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

which  had  opposed,  as  usual,  the  Americanization  of  its 
customs  and  institutions. 

Mormon  leaders  very  early  discerned  the  increasing 
possibilities  and  importance  of  Arizona.  They  openly 
boasted  that  some  day  the  territory  would  be  in  their 
power.  To  that  end,  in  the  early  80's,  a  systematic 
colonization  began,  which  quickly  settled  extensive  areas 
of  Northern  Arizona.  It  was  not  long  before  all  other 
elements  of  the  population  became  alarmed  at  the  dangers 
socially,  politically  and  religiously,  which  treatened  the 
peace  and  good  name  of  the  territory.  Anything  that 
would  checkmate  the  impending  evil  was  welcomed.  At 
the  time,  Rev.  G.  L.  Goodell,  the  beloved  pastor  of  St. 
Louis,  speaking  in  the  second  annual  meeting  of  the 
Commission,  said:  "Mormonism  is  a  rebellion  of  all  that 
is  worst  in  man  against  all  that  is  best  in  the  nation, 
unrelieved  by  a  gleam  of  chivalry  or  an  emotion  of 
generous  enthusiasm  to  mitigate  its  vileness  and  loath- 
ing. It  is  a  decaying  carcass  to  which  the  buzzards  gather 
from  every  land.  It  is  slavery,  hard  as  death  and  the 
grave;  a  plague  spot  hotter  than  the  breath  of  demon- 
working  Africa,  and  foul  as  the  gilded  halls  of  Turkey, 
without  the  splendor.  Out  of  the  slums  and  cesspools  of 
society  come  rniamas  that  poison  life;  come  leprosies 
that  waste  communities;  come  disease  and  pestilence  that 
kill  republics.  Mormonism  is  rife  with  all  these." 

Miss  Mary  E.  Pease  and  Miss  M.  Munsinger  were  the 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  97 

talented  teachers  sent  to  St.  John,  the  center  of  a 
Mormon  settlement.  They  remained  two  years.  Miss 
M.  McCullough  taught  a  year  in  Holbrook,  a  station  on 
the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Railway.  The  school  in  Spring- 
erville  was  maintained  only  six  months.  This  result  was 
one  of  very  many  disappointments  suffered  by  the  patient 
administrators  of  the  Commission.  A  full  explanation 
is  not  possible  here,  save  to  say  that  swiftly  changing 
environment,  lack  of  local  appreciation,  costliness  of  the 
work,  and  the  feeling  that  the  limited  funds  in  hand 
could  be  wisely  spent  elsewhere — all  entered  into  the 
determination. 


THE  MEXICAN  TRAINING 
SCHOOL. 


THE  MEXICAN  TEAINING  SCHOOL. 


The  relations  between  the  Mexicans  of  Old  Mexico 
and  of  New  Mexico  are  less  intimate  than  would  at  first 
be  supposed.  With  one  language,  one  religion,  identity 
of  race  and  contiguous  territories,  one  would  expect  to 
find  frequent  intercourse  over  the  border,  and  such 
intimate  mutual  relations  as  would  maintain  common 
racial  sentiments  and  aspirations.  But  no  such  intimacy 
exists.  The  distances  are  very  great.  The  Mexican  is 
not  a  traveler,  as  a  rule  exceedingly  poor,  he  is  also 
ignorant.  The  horizon  bounds  his  ambition.  Peonage, 
a  type  of  slavery,  has  robbed  him  of  energy  and  hope. 

But  a  change  is  apparent.  The  railway  has  come, 
English-speaking  adventurers  have  aroused  their  sleeping 
powers.  Protestantism  is  becoming  known  to  the  few. 
The  cities  are  leaders  in  a  new  civilization.  El  Paso, 
being  on  the  border,  influenced  both  countries.  It  is  a 
strategic  center.  After  several  conferences  between  Rev. 
J.  D.  Eaton,  Rev.  M.  A.  Crawford,  Rev.  A.  C.  Wright, 
Rev.  J.  C.  Olds,  the  missionaries  of  the  American  Board 
in  Old  Mexico,  and  Rev.  E.  Lyman  Hood,  the  joint  superin- 
tendent of  the  Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society 


102  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

and  New  West  Education  Commission  in  New  Mexico 
and  Arizona,  the  several  societies  represented  were  urged 
to  establish  a  training  school  for  Mexicans. 

The  school  was  opened  in  Juarez,  a  town  opposite  El 
Paso,  on  the  Rio  Grande  River.  Rev.  A.  C.  Wright,  an 
experienced  missionary  of  the  Board,  was  appointed 
principal,  and  Miss  Dorrie  Stahl,  his  assistant,  was 
appointed  by  the  Commission.  The  local  conditions  were 
not  favorable,  and,  after  a  second  year,  the  school  was 
moved  to  El  Paso  to  a  commodious  building  erected  by 
the  Commission  at  an  expense  of  eleven  thousand  dollars. 
The  truthful  historian  must  record  that  which  is  dis- 
appointing as  well  as  the  things  which  give  encourage- 
ment. It  is  a  long  story,  but  suffice  to  say  the  work 
among  the  Mexicans  of  the  United  States  did  not  prosper 
as  anticipated,  so  the  school  subsequently  was  moved  to 
Guadalajara,  a  large  city  in  Old  Mexico,  one  thousand 
miles  farther  south.  At  present  writing  it  is  meeting  all 
expectations  and  is  the  center  of  wide  influences.  In  its 
new  location  it  is  sustained  entirely  by  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions. 


THE  NEW  WE8T  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  103 


THE    SONG   OF   THE   MOUNTAINS. 


"The  mountains  and  the  hills  shall  break  forth  into  sing- 
ing, and  all  the  trees  of  the  field  shall  clap  their  hands." 

O,  ye  mountains,  pure  and  sparkling, 

Strangely  sweet  the  songs  you  sing! 

Hark!  I  hear  them  rising,  falling, 
As  from  peak  to  peak  they  ring. 

Sweet  ye  sing  in  hush  of  morning, 

Ere  the  purpling  of  the  dawn; 
Sweet  ye  sing  in  glow  of  sunset, 

Ere  the  evening  star  is  born. 

Sing  ye  songs  the  stars  of  morning 

Sang  to  hail  creation's  birth? 
Sing  ye  songs  the  spheres,  in  rapture, 

Softly  sing  to  listening  earth? 

Sunset  flashes  on  the  mountains, 

Turns  to  gold  the  brooklet's  sands, 

While  the  pine  the  secret  murmurs, 
And  the  trees  all  clap  their  hands. 


104  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

This  the  secret  of  the  pine  tree, 

Murmured  where  the  brooklet  flows; 

This  the  secret  that  the  rain  drops 

Buried   deep   in   mountain   snows. 

That  the  mountains  sing  in  triumph 

Songs  the  little  children  sing, 
Which  they  learn  from  faithful  teachers, 

Sent  by  children  of  the  King. 

And  while  children  sweetly  carol 

Songs  of  praise  for  God's  dear  love, 

All  the  mountains  catch  the  echoes, 
Wafting  them  to  heaven  above. 

[MARY  F.  FRENCH  in  New  West  Gleaner,  April,  1892.] 


CHARLES  ROBINSON  BLISS. 


CHARLES  ROBINSON  BLISS. 


Charles  Robinson  Bliss  was  born  in  Longmeadow, 
Mass.,  November  5,  1828,  the  only  son  of  Deacon  (Lieut.) 
Ebenezer  Bliss  and  Marilla  Moore  Bliss,  a  native  of 
Tolland,  Mass.  He  was  descended  from  Thomas  Bliss, 
who  came  from  Belstone,  Devonshire,  England,  to  Boston 
in  1635.  A  year  later  this  ancestor  moved  to  Hartford, 
where  he  received  an  allotment  of  land,  as  did  his  eldest 
son,  Thomas.  The  father  died  in  1640,  and  the  family 
removed  to  Springfield.  The  youngest  son,  John,  later 
settled  in  Longmeadow,  and  was  the  ancestor  of  the 
subject  of  this  biography. 

Charles  Robinson  was  also  descended  from  Elder  John 
Strong,  the  first  minister  of  Northampton ;  also  from  John 
Parmelin  (later  Parmelee),  a  Huguenot,  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  Guilford,  Conn.  Thomas  Robinson,  who  be- 
came a  resident  of  Guilford  in  1664,  was  another  from 
whom  Mr.  Bliss  traced  his  lineage.  Inheriting  the  best 
traditions  of  New  England  from  men  honored  in  the 
upbuilding  of  the  country,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the 
growing  boy  early  manifested  the  promise  of  future  use- 
fulness. He  was  thoughtful  in  his  school  work,  con- 


108  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

siderate  in  his  dealings  with  his  associates,  and  to  a 
marked  degree  obedient  in  his  home.  Of  this  home  his 
sister,  Julia,  has  written:  "It  was  in  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  locations  in  the  beautiful  town,  a  site  overlook- 
ing the  broad  meadows,  the  Connecticut  River  and  the 
mountains  beyond;  on  the  west  and  on  the  north  a 
picturesque  ravine  with  the  Longmeadow  brook  flowing 
at  its  base,  and  fair  fields  stretching  away  to  the  wooded 
hills  beyond." 

His  father  was  very  anxious  that  he  should  obtain  a 
college  education,  so  he  was  sent  in  due  time  to  Westfield 
Academy,  Westfield,  Mass.,  the  principal  being  William 
C.  Goldthwait,  formerly  of  Longmeadow,  who  had  become 
a  prominent  educator  in  the  Connecticut  Valley.  His 
life  in  the  preparatory  school  was  marked  by  devotion 
to  duty  and  chivalric  honor  which  won  the  esteem  of 
teachers  and  classmates.  In  the  autumn  of  1850,  when 
President  Mark  Hopkins  was  in  the  prime  of  his  intel- 
lectual vigor,  Charles  entered  Williams  College.  His 
associates  have  borne  witness  to  the  regard  with  which 
he  was  held.  Never  physically  very  strong,  never  large 
of  frame,  nor  robust,  he  could  not  enter  into  much  that 
appeals  to  college  men.  But  at  the  close  of  his  collegiate 
career  (in  1854)  he  had  laid  broad  and  deep  the  founda- 
tions upon  which  he  could  wisely  and  safely  build  through 
subsequent  years. 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  109 

In  his  college  course  he  was  honored  by  election  to 
membership  in  the  Alpha  Delta  Phi  and  Adelphic  Union 
Societies.  Among  the  most  intimate  friends  were  his 
roommate  through  college,  Mr.  James  R.  Dewey,  long  a 
teacher  of  Greek  in  the  Chicago  High  Schools ;  Rev.  Henry 
M.  Grout,  whose  death  many  years  later,  while  pastor 
of  the  Congregational  Church,  Concord,  Mass.,  was 
widely  mourned.  Young  Bliss  was  not  in  college  the 
most  popular  of  his  class;  as  in  later  life,  he  lacked 
magnetism,  and  seemed  cold  and  unsympathetic  to  many, 
yet  it  is  proof  of  his  real  worth  that  friendships  were 
won  among  the  strongest  men  in  the  student  body  which 
endured  through  life.  Among  these  were  Rev.  Abbott  E. 
Kittrege,  long  a  prominent  pastor  in  New  York  City, 
and  Rev.  Charles  A.  Stoddard,  the  versatile  editor  of  the 
New  York  Observer. 

During  his  college  course  he  had  taught  several  short 
terms  of  schools  in  the  country  districts  of  the  State.  The 
year  following  his  graduation  he  was  principal  of 
Leicester  Academy,  Leicester.  In  September,  1855,  he 
entered  Andover  Seminary,  where  three  years  were 
pleasantly  and  profitably  spent.  He  was  wont  to  say 
that  he  had  had  three  teachers  in  his  life,  Mr.  Goldthwait, 
President  Hopkins  and  Professor  Park.  Among  the 
students  during  his  course  were  not  a  few  who  achieved 
abiding  fame  in  later  years.  In  the  seminary  his  leader- 
ship was  not  conspicuous,  but  the  deep  sincerity  of  his 


110  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

life  and  the  thoroughness  of  his  scholarship  won  for  him 
friendship  that  never  waned. 

About  a  year,  after  leaving  Andover  Hill,  he  supplied 
churches  in  New  England,  or  until  April  28,  1859,  when 
he  was  ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  and 
settled  as  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Beverly, 
N.  J.  Two  years  and  a  half  were  pleasantly  sipent  in  this 
labor.  He  was  dismissed  November  18,  1861,  to  accept 
a  call  to  South  Reading  (later  Wakefield),  Mass.,  where 
he  was  installed  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church 
May  22,  1862.  Doctor  Kirk,  of  Boston,  preached  the 
sermon,  Dr.  B.  S.  Storrs,  of  Braintree,  offered  the  install- 
ing prayer  and  Rev.  J.  W.  Harding,  from  his  old  home 
in  Longmeadow,  gave  the  charge  to  the  pastor.  Doctor 
Storrs  was  the  son  of  Rev.  R.  S.  Storrs,  the  second  pastor 
of  the  Longmeadow  Church.  Mr.  Harding  had  been  Mr. 
Bliss'  pastor,  and  had  followed  with  peculiar  interest 
the  young  man  during  his  years  of  preparation  for  the 
ministry.  Charles'  father  wasi  a  delegate  from  the  home 
church,  and  had  the  pleasure  of  witnessing  his  son's 
installation. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  October  15,  1862,  he 
married  an  acquaintance  of  his  seminary  years,  Mary 
Farnham  Smith.  She  was  born  in  Gloucester,  August 
25,  1831,  and  was  thus  about  three  years  younger  than  her 
husband.  When  she  was  a  child  her  parents,  Henry  and 
Susan  Johnson  Farnham  Smith,  settled  in  the  mother's 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  Ill 

old  home,  North  Andover.  Rarely  does  a  minister  of  the 
gospel  find  so  congenial  a  companion,  so  willing  and 
efficient  a  helpmeet  as  did  Mr.  Bliss.  A  parishioner, 
during  the  fifteen  years  of  his  pastorate  in  Wakefield, 
has  written  thus :  "Mr.  Blisis  was  a  preacher  of  persuasive 
power,  possessed  of  fine  scholarly  attainments,  devoted 
and  judicious  as  a  pastor,  a  friend  and  advocate  of  every 
good  cause  in  our  social  and  municipal  life.  In  the  time 
of  the  great  war  for  the  Union,  he  was  the  active  and 
constant  friend  of  the  soldiers  and  their  families.  Nine 
years  he  served  on  the  school  board,  much  of  the  time, 
acting  as  chairman." 

In  June,  1871,  his  health  being  poor,  the  church 
generously  granted  him  a  vacation  of  several  months,  that 
he  and  Mrs.  Bliss  might  visit  the  Old  World.  A  hand 
some  gift  of  money  was  also  presented  them.  They  were 
absent  five  months  and  extended  their  journey  to  Turkey, 
where,  in  Sivas,  a  sister  of  Mr.  Bliss,  Miss  Plavia  (later 
Mrsi  F.  E.  Garner  of  Longmeadow),  was  stationed  as  a 
missionary.  A  centennial  celebration  prompted  him  to 
write  "A  Commemorative  Sketch"  in  1877.  It  is  an 
engaging  history  of  the  Wakefield  Congregational  Church 
from  1644  to  date. 

Previously,  in  1868,  as  a  correspondent  of  the  Congre- 
yationalist,  he  joined  a  party  of  journalists,  afterwards 
known  as  the  "Rocky  Mountain  Press  Club,"  in  journey- 
ing at  the  invitation  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railway  to  the 


112  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

terminus  of  the  line.  The  trip  took  them  into  the  midst 
of  the  towering  Rockies.  The  object  of  the  tour  was  to 
interest  the  public  in  the  developing  resources  of  the 
continent,  and  to  acquaint  the  people  of  the  United  States 
with  the  magnitude  of  the  task  undertaken,  and  the 
matchless  prospect  before  the  rising  empires  of  the  West. 
Thus  Mr.  Bliss  had  his  first  view  of  the  vast  region  in 
which  he  was  to  take  such  deep  interest  in  later  years. 

In  June,  1877,  his  health  having  again  become  much 
impaired,  he  resigned  the  pastorate  and  started  upon  an 
extensive  trip  to  the  far  West.  In  Colorado,  especially, 
he  spent  considerable  time  hunting,  fishing  and  camping 
out  in  the  mountains.  As  the  guest  of  the  president,  Rev. 
E.  P.  Tenney,  he  was  enabled  to  see  the  need  and  increas- 
ing influence  of  Colorado  College.  On  other  pages  we 
may  read  how  his  interest  was  awakened  in  the  rising 
educational  institutions  of  the  great  Rocky  Mountain 
region.  Colorado  College  was  generously  assisted  by  his 
voice  and  pen  on  his  return  to  the  East.  With  prophetic 
foresight  he  discerned  what  all  did  not  at  that  time  see, 
namely,  that  Mormonism  in  Utah  and  the  French  Jesu- 
itism of  the  Roman  Church  in  New  Mexico  and  Arizona 
were  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  America.  Mr.  Bliss 
was  among  the  first  to  warn  the  people  of  the  United 
States  of  the  threatening  antagonism  of  both  Mormonism 
and  Jesuitism.  The  passing  years  since  have  abundantly 
fulfilled  his  predictions.  In  due  time,  as  we  have  seen 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  113 

in  another  chapter,  the  New  West  Education  Commission 
was  organized  in  Chicago,  and  he  was  elected  the  chief 
executive  of  its  work  as  secretary.  Thirteen  years,  from 
1880  to  1893,  his  service  in  the  cause  of  Christian  educa- 
tion won  him  hearty  support  and  affectionate  regard  in 
all  our  churches.  In  passing,  it  must  be  repeated,  what 
is  necessarily  given  in  detail  elsewhere  in  the  book,  that 
the  magnitude  of  his  labors  may  be  comprehended,  the 
sum  of  three-quarters  of  a  million  dollars  was  received 
and  expended  in  sending  more  than  seven  hundred 
teachers  to  the  distant  territories,  where  thirty-three 
thousand  pupils  were  gathered  into  schools  and  taught 
the  principles)  of  American  citizenship  and  Christian 
righteousness. 

In  the  summer  of  1891  the  first  world's  council  of  the 
Congregational  Churches  was  held  in  London.  With  the 
writer  he  was  a  fellow  passenger  on  the  City  of  Chicago, 
which  bore  one  hundred  and  one  of  the  delegates  and 
members  of  their  families  acrossi  the  sea.  The  memories 
of  that  delightful  voyage  of  modern  Pilgrims  to  Old  World 
shrines  will  never  fade.  Mr.  Bliss  was  the  accredited 
representative  of  the  Commission,  and  as  such  was  the 
recipient  of  much  kindly  good  will  and  considerate 
courtesy.  During  his  stay  of  a  fortnight  in  London  he 
was  the  honored  guest  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Evan  Spicer,  who 
are  widely  known  throughout  the  British  Empire  for  their 
zeal  in  the  Master's  work  and  their  princely  gifts  toward 


114  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

its  support.  With  many  others  of  the  council  he  attended 
social  functions  of  the  capital,  meeting  the  Prince  and 
Princess  of  Wales,  and  distinguished  members  of  the 
church  and  government.  At  the  close  of  the  sessions  of 
the  council  he  visited,  with  several  hundred  of  the  Con- 
gregational ists  from  many  lands,  the  cradle  of  the  denom- 
ination in  Scrooby  and  Austerfield.  He  was  also  among 
the  party  which  was  entertained  by  the  mayor  and 
citizens  of  Plymouth.  Before  sailing  for  America  Mr. 
Bliss  visited  the  cathedral  towns  of  the  North  of  England. 

A  pathetic  feature  of  the  work  of  Mr.  Bliss  as  secretary 
of  the  Commission  was  the  fact  that,  to  the  degree  it  was 
successful,  it  was  rendered  unnecessary.  In  this  vein, 
since  the  secretary's  death,  Rev.  D.  N.  Beach  (a  successor, 
by  the  way,  in  the  Wakefield  pastorate)  writes:  "His 
work  became  in  part  a  victim  of  its  large  success.  It 
changed  conditions.  It  helped  to  make  Mormondom  a  new 
world.  With  education  came  culture,  enterprise,  the 
seething  forces  of  new  hope  and  life.  The  effect  was  to 
obscure  his  work.  But  work,  for  men,  is  only  most 
successful  when  it  is  self-effacing." 

In  1893  the  union  of  the  Commission  with  the  older 
Education  Society  was  consummated.  It  was  not  in 
accord  with  his  wishes  and  judgment.  But  he  cheerfully 
acquiesced  in  the  general  demand  in  our  churches  for  a 
reduction  in  the  number  of  benevolent  societies  supported 
by  Congregationalists.  Mr.  Bliss  became  editorial- 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.          115 

secretary  of  the  united  Society.  Because  of  the  incoming 
public  schools  in  the  territories,  one  after  another  of  the 
higher  institutions  sustained  by  the  Commission  was 
suspended.  It  being  evident  that  no  one  of  the  several 
academies  in  the  Southwestern  field  could  be  wisely 
merged  into  a  college,  Mr.  Bliss  was  especially  desirous 
that  the  academy  in  Salt  Lake,  which  had  played  so  con- 
spicuous and  honorable  a  part  in  the  years  of  Christian 
uplift,  should  become  an  institution  of  collegiate  strength 
and  grade.  To  that  end  Mr.  Bliss  was  eager  to  devote  the 
remainder  of  his  life.  It  proved  an  impossible  task.  To 
tell  the  whole  story  would  be  to  narrate  what  would  not 
be  either  flattering  to  our  denominational  pride  or 
encouraging  to  our  Christian  graces.  The  effort  was  a 
losing  fight,  and  the  disappointment  told  sadly  on  the 
faithful  secretary's!  waning  strength  and  vitality. 

During  the  years  of  labor  with  the  Commission 
Secretary  and  Mrs.  Bliss  made  their  home  in  Chicago. 
Later  Boston  was  their  headquarters.  In  1897,  however, 
they  decided  to  make  their  permanent  residence  in  Wake- 
field,  among  the  many  dear  friends  of  their  earlier  labors. 
The  summers  were  passed  in  part  in  his  ancestral  home 
in  Longmeadow.  The  last  summer  of  their  lives  was  thus 
pleasantly  spent  with  his  three  sisters.  In  the  autumn 
increasing  weakness  seemed  to  make  a  change  to  a 
warmer  climate  necessary,  so  they  journeyed  to  Fanwood, 
N.  J.,  where  they  were  near  a  nephew  of  hers,  Mr.  F.  D. 


116  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

Warren.  While  he  was  recovering  from  a  severe  attack 
of  la  grippe  Mrs.  Bliss  was  suddenly  stricken  with 
pneumonia,  and  in  a  few  days,  Sunday,  February  17, 
died. 

Summoning  all  his  depleted  strength,  and  accompanied 
by  relatives  of  Mrs  Bliss,  he  took  the  body  to  Longmeadow 
for  burial.  On  reaching  the  old  homestead  he  was 
shocked  to  learn  that  his  eldest  sister,  Mrs.  George  Mc- 
Queen, had  passed  away  the  day  before.  A  double  funeral 
was  held,  the  services  being  conducted  by  Rev.  A.  P. 
Davis,  pastor  of  the  Wakefield  Church,  assisted  by  the 
Rev.  R.  W.  Wallace,  also  a  former  pastor  of  the  same 
church.  The  daily  press,  in  noting  the  sad  occurrence, 
said:  "The  circumstances  of  the  occasion  were  most 
unusual.  These  sisters-in-law,  after  illness  of  about  the 
same  duration,  died  within  seven  hours  of  each  other; 
both  were  buried  from  the  same  house  at  the  same  hour 
and  in  the  same  lot  in  the  old  churchyard." 

These  unexpected  and  accumulated  grief  si  were  too 
much  for  Mr.  Bliss  in  his  enfeebled  condition.  In  less 
than  a  week  (Tuesday  morning,  February  26,  1901)  he, 
too,  "exchanged  this  world  for  a  better."  Two  days  later 
the  funeral  was  held.  A  delegation  from  the  Wakefield 
Church,  including  the  pastor,  Rev.  A.  P.  Davis,  Chester 
W.  Eaton,  G.  H.  Maddock,  John  White  and  Mr.  Skinner, 
came,  bringing  a  beautiful  floral  offering  bearing  the 
inscription,  "Beloved  Pastor  of  the  Wakefield  Church, 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  117 

1862-1877."  Mr.  Davis  conducted  the  services,  assisted  by 
the  Rev.  R.  8.  Underwood.  C.  S.  Newell,  Walter  Bliss, 
Mrs.  Braddock  and  Miss  Katherine  Clark  were  again  in 
the  choir,  as  they  had  been  a  week  before.  No  children 
were  ever  born  to  them;  the  relatives  left  at  death  con- 
sisted of  two  sisters  of  Mr.  Bliss,  Miss  Julia  M.  and  Mrs. 
F.  E.  Garner;  a  nephew,  C.  M.  McQueen,  and  two  nieces, 
Misses  Nellie  and  Jessie  Garner.  In  addition  to  the 
nephew  already  mentioned  Mrs.  Bliss  left  two  brothers, 
John  H.  D.  Smith,  of  Boston,  and  Henry  Smith,  of 
Concord. 

A  noble  heritage  and  living  kin  of  character  and' 
achievement  were  the  inspiration  of  both  Secretary  and 
Mrs.  Bliss.  His  eldest  sister,  Mrs.  Georgiana  McQueen, 
was  a  graduate  of  Mount  Holyoke.  She  was  married  in 
1855  to  the  Rev.  George  McQueen,  a  missionary  in  Corisco, 
West  Africa.  After  a  service  of  ten  years  in  the  Dark 
Continent,  her  husband  having  died,  she  made  her  home 
in  Longmeadow,  where  she  was  long  identified  with  every 
good  work.  Mrs.  Garner  returned  from  her  arduous 
labors  in  Turkey  to  make  a  home  in  Longmeadow,  which 
has  long  been  the  center  of  helpful  influences.  Her 
brother  and  sisters  returned  to  the  old  hearthstone  as 
doves  to  their  windows.  It  was,  verily,  as  a  great  rock  in 
a  weary  land.  Without  the  unremitting  effort  of  Miss 
Julia  this  brief  monograph  would  have  been  impossible. 
From  her  hand  the  writer  has  received  data,  carefully 


118  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

preserved  by  her  through  the  years  as  a  labor  of  love, 
which  made  the  writing  of  this  memorial  volume  a 
pleasure. 

Of  Mrs.  Bliss  it  is  difficult  to  write  without  seeming 
to  use  the  superlative  to  an  extraordinary  degree.  The 
home  of  her  early  life  approached  closely  the  New  England 
ideal.  Christian  influences,  pure  and  positive,  combined 
with  the  rare  mental  accomplishments  of  its  members, 
gave  rich  endowment  to  life.  Later,  in  the  best  schools  of 
the  day,  her  heart  and  mind  were  trained  for  the  dis- 
tinguished station  in  the  church  and  society  which  she 
always  adorned.  Her  affection  went  out  to  all  things 
pure  and  good.  To  spend  and  be  spent  for  others  was  a 
joy.  On  her  lips  was  the  law  of  kindness.  For  nearly 
forty  years  she  was  the  cheering  helpmeet  of  her  husband 
in  his  unselfish  service.  Their  marriage  was  the  union  of 
congenial  spirits.  Combining  attractive  loveliness  of 
person  with  strength  of  character,  her  gifts  won  her 
cordial  sympathy  and  cooperation  in  whatever  her  heart 
prompted  her  to  undertake. 

Three  weeks  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Bliss  (Sunday 
evening,  March  17,  1901)  a  memorial  service  was  held  in 
the  Wakefield  Congregational  Church.  It  wras  fitting 
that  their  memory  should  be  thus  honored  on  the  scene 
of  their  consecrated  service.  The  congregation  was 
limited  only  by  the  capacity  of  the  house.  The  entire 
service  was  singularly  tender  and  impressive.  Kev.  Albert 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  119 

Putnam  Davis  led  in  the  worship  of  the  hour,  and  spoke 
tender  words  of  eulogy  which  deeply  touched  the  hearts 
of  the  mourning  friends.  Favorite  hymns  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Bliss  were  sung :  "King  of  Love,"  "Jerusalem  the  Golden" 
and  "Rock  of  Ages*/'  "Asleep  in  Jesus"  and  "O  Paradise." 

Rev.  William  J.  Batt,  of  Concord,  a  classmate  of  Mr. 
Bliss  in  Andover  Seminary,  bore  personal  tribute  to  the 
sterling  worth  of  his  lifelong  friend.  He  called  attention 
to  the  chaste  and  artistic  program  of  the  evening,  in  itself 
a  fitting  memorial.  Rev.  S.  L.  B.  Speare,  of  Newton, 
spoke  especially  of  "the  attractive  personality,  the  cheer 
of  voice  and  heart"  of  Mrs.  Bliss,  with  whom  he  was 
intimately  acquainted  in  her  early  days  in  Andover. 
uTo  have  met  her  once  was  to  carry  always  the  memory 
of  her." 

Rev.  J.  A.  Hamilton,  the  honorary  secretary  of  the 
Congregational  Education  Society,  was  also  an  Andover 
classmate.  He  referred  especially  to  the  literary  work 
through  many  years  of  his  departed  friend,  whose  work 
as  writer  and  editor  was  far-reaching  in  its  moral 
incentive  and  spiritual  uplift.  Still  another  of  Mr.  Bliss' 
classmates  in  Andover,  Rev.  A.  H.  Plumb,  of  Boston, 
was  present  and  addressed  the  Congregation.  He 
emphasized  the  goodly  inheritance  of  both  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Bliss,  whose  "ancestors  had  been  noted  for  their  devotion 
to  religion  and  righteousness,  and  the  cause  of  educa- 


120  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

tion."    He  said  he  was  himself  connected  with  Mr.  Bliss 
by  ties  of  blood,  and  with  both  by  lifelong  friendship. 

No  speaker  left  deeper  impress  than  did  Rev.  Robert 
W.  Wallace,  of  Somerville,  the  successor  of  Mr.  Bliss  in 
the  pastorate.  He  bore  witness  to  "the  universal  affection 
and  respect  with  which  Mr.  Bliss  was  mentioned  and 
remembered."  The  labors  of  both  left  permanent  results 
of  great  value.  "The  life  of  Mr.  Bliss  and  his  wife  had 
a  singular  unity  of  purpose  and  action.  They  planned 
together  and  thought  together.  Rarely  was*  a  man  so 
profoundly  trusted,  so  even  in  temperament,  so  kindly 
wise  and  helpful,  and  rarely  has  there  been  a  wife  possess 
ing  more  beautiful  and  queenly  traits;  and  qualities  than 
his  beloved  and  loving  wife." 

Rev.  N.  R.  Everts  made  the  closing  address,  in  which 
he  dwelt  on  the  warm-heartedness  and  sympathetic  intelli- 
gence of  both,  whose  memories  they  had  met  to  honor. 
He  regarded  their  mutual  harmony  as  the  charm  of  the 
most  sacred  wedded  love.  When  Mr.  Bliss  began  to  fail 
"she  maintained  the  same  hopeful  and  cheerful  manner, 
and  carried  all  her  anxieties;  within  herself. 

"Her  youthfulness  in  spirit  and  expression  were 
retained  in  spite  of  length  of  days  and  the  white  hair, 
which  was  to  her  such  a  crown  of  glory." 

Commemorative  letters  had  been  sent  from  the  Rev.  G. 
S.  F.  Savage,  of  Chicago,  for  many  years  the  correspond- 
ing secretary  of  the  New  West,  who  was  probably  the 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  121 

most  intimate  adviser  of  Mr.  Bliss ;  from  Mr.  Isaac  Huse, 
the  efficient  Superintendent  of  the  Commission  in  the 
Utah  field ;  from  Rev.  Frederick  A.  Noble,  of  Chicago, 
the  President  of  the  Commission;  from  Rev.  Walter  H. 
Ashley,  of  Manchester,  Mass.,  long  Principal  of  the  New 
West  Academy  in  Las,  Vegas,  New  Mexico;  from  Rev.  J. 
E.  Raukin,  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  who,  from  his  post  at  the 
national  capital,  had  followed  the  work  of  the  New  West 
with  increasing  interest;  and  from  Rev.  L.  H.  Cobb,  the 
secretary  of  Congregational  Church  Building  Society. 
Resolutions  were  presented  from  several  societies,  reli- 
gious and  philanthropic,  with  which  Mr.  and  Mrs,  Bliss 
had  been  connected. 

The  literary  work  of  Mr.  Bliss  has  already  been  in  part 
mentioned.  He  also  wrote  "Godless  or  Not,"  a  pamphlet ; 
"The  Bible  in  the  Schools,"  "Thanksgiving  Sermon" 
(1863);  "Thanksgiving  Sermon"  (1865);  "New  Mexico" 
(1879)  ;  Papers  on  the  New  West  Commission,  presented 
to  the  National  Council.  The  editorship  of  the  New  West 
Gleaner,  later  Christian  Education  (1884-1897),  gave 
wide  scope  for  his  facile  pen. 

In  September,  1893,  the  thirteenth,  and  last,  annual 
report  of  the  Commission  was  published.  The  National 
Council,  the  most  important  representative  body  of  the 
Congregational  Churches  of  the  United  States,  had 
repeatedly,  in  its  triennial  sessions,  passed  resolutions, 
after  debate,  calling  for  a  reduction  in  the  number  of  na- 


122  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

tional  benevolent  societies.  Agreeably  to  these  expressed 
wishes,  the  Commission  entered  into  an  alliance  with 
the  Congregational  Education  Society,  by  which  the  work 
of  both  Societies  would  be  prosecuted  by  the  older  Society. 
Christian  education  is  the  fundamental  idea  in  all  the 
work  hitherto  sustained  by  them. 

Secretary  Bliss,  in  his  last  official  annual  report,  says: 
"And  now,  in  obedience  to  what  seems  to  be  a  demand  of 
the  churches,  after  fifteen  eventful  years,  the  promoters 
of  a  work  which  has  become  so  widely  known  as  the 
'New  West'  work,  knock  again  at  the  door  of  the  college 
society,  not  to  beseech  a  little  help  for  two  newly  fledged 
academies,  but  to  offer  to  its  aceptance  a  broad, 
established,  and  widely  useful  work,  having  an  annual 
income  of  eighty  thousand  dollars,  property  in  real  estate 
and  bonds  worth  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars, 
an  annual  enrollment  of  twenty-five  hundred  pupils  in 
six  academies  and  fifteen  mission  schools." 


CONCLUSION. 


CONCLUSION. 


At  the  present  writing,  just  eleven  years  after  the 
above  was  penned,  it  is  a  pertinent  inquiry,  "What  has 
been  the  apparent  result  upon  the  educational  work  so 
long  ably  sustained  by  the  Commission?"  In  attempting 
an  answer  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  long  before  the 
union  of  the  two  societies  was  advocated  or  consummated 
changes  of  very  great  moment  were  taking  place  in  both 
the  Western  (Utah)  and  the  Southwestern  (New  Mexico) 
fields. 

Mor monism  was  gradually  being  shorn  of  its  more 
repulsive  features.  This  was  the  effect,  not  alone  of  an 
aroused  public  opinion  without  the  church,  but  a  reform- 
ing influence  among  the  Saints  themselves.  Polygamy 
was  doomed.  Mormonism  was  becoming,  if  not  less  a 
religion,  more  and  more  a  gigantic  political,  commercial, 
cooperative  socialism.  Impartial  observers  declare  that 
the  missionary  schools,  long  maintained  by  several 
Protesftant  bodies,  were  considerable  factors  in  bringing 
about  these  wholesome  changes.  The  missionary  school 
struck  a  prodigious  blow  at  Mormonism,  and  at  its  most 
vulnerable  point,  namely,  the  home. 


126  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

The  changes  were  no  less  momentous  in  the  Roman 
Church  in  the  Southwest.  Within  ecclesiastical  circles 
a  growing  opposition  to  the  further  supremacy  of  the 
French  Jesuits  was  clearly  manifest.  Until  the  arrival 
of  Protestants  in  this  far-away  region  the  laity  had  no 
voice  whatever  in  the  government  of  the  church.  They 
foresaw,  however,  more  quickly  than  the  priesthood,  that 
if  the  pajjal  cause  was  to  compete  successfully  with  the 
incoming  Northern  churches,  it  must  foster  an  Arneri 
canization,  which  could  alone  bring  it  in  touch  with  the 
militant  forces  of  the  day. 

But  a  greater  change,  though  outside  the  church  itself, 
was  the  people  were  beginning  to  do  their  own  thinking. 
By  daily  experience  they  saw  that  the  boy  trained  in  the 
Protestant  missionary  schools  was  better  educated  than 
the  graduate  of  church  institutions.  And  the  contrast 
was  nowhere  more  in  evidence  than  among  the  girls.  The 
graduate  of  the  Sisters'  convent  was  cloistered,  shut  in 
from  the  world,  taught  painting  and  music.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  young  woman  who  went  forth  from  the  academy 
had  been  made  self-reliant,  given  an  enlarged  vision,  and, 
with  a  practical  education,  was  able  to  hoe  her  own  row 
in  the  world. 

In  the  two  fields  in  which  the  New  West  was  engaged 
this  reforming,  regenerating  work  was  carried  on  by  only 
a  few  of  the  Protestant  denominations.  The  Baptists 
had  very  few  churches  and  no  schools.  The  Episcopalians 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.          127 

sustained  a  larger  number  of  missionaries,  but  no  mis- 
sionary teachers  were  supported  in  either  Territory.  The 
work  of  the  Lutheran  Church  was  small  in  both  branches. 
The  Methodists  were  aggressive  and  successful  in  their 
church  enterprises,  but  failed  in  the  little  they  attempted 
in  education.  The  Methodist  Church  South  was  weak  in 
Utah,  but  maintained  a  larger  number  of  missionaries  in 
New  Mexico  than  any  other  denomination.  Only  one 
academy  was  supported  by  them — at  Las  Vegas,  and  it 
waa  never  very  prosperous.  The  Presbyterians  deserve 
by  far  the  greatest  praise.  At  one  time  they  were  spend- 
ing almost  as  much  money  annually  as  all  others  combined. 
Their  missionary  pastors  and  missionary  teachers  also 
almost  equaled  in  number  all  others.  The  administration 
of  Presbyterian  interests  was  always  wise  and  effective. 
The  lack  of  harmony  between  missionaries  and  teachers, 
which  was  so  grievous  a  feature  in  the  work  of  other 
denominations  at  times,  did  not  weaken  them,  and  their 
presbyteries  exercised  an  oversight  and  guidance  of  men 
on  the  fields,  and  kept  most  thoroughly  informed  of  their 
conditions  and  needs,  which  was  of  untold  value. 

Enough  has  possibly  been  said  to  indicate  the  relative 
position  which  Congregational  agencies  occupied  in  the 
upbuilding  of  these  two  great  empires  of  the  new  West, 
Utah  and  New  Mexico.  In  education  no  other  denomina- 
tion equaled  ours.  The  Presbyterian  brethren  had  a 
larger  number  of  free  rural  schools,  but  they  had  very 


128  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

few  of  the  "academy"  grade.  In  the  schools  of  the 
Cornmiss/ion  the  religious  influences  were  potent  and  con- 
tinuous. Each  day  was  always  begun  with  the  reading 
of  the  Bible  and  prayer.  The  number  who  were  led  to 
confess  Christ  as  their  Savior  and  Lord  was  gratifying 
indeed.  The  graduates  went  forth  as  teachers  or  business 
men,  bearing  a  leaven  that  tended  to  raise  the  communities 
in  which  their  homes*  were  found.  The  new  American 
civilization  demanded  public  schools  in  both  territories. 
No  other  influence  was  more  potent  in  creating  this 
demand  and  making  possible  its  satisfactory  fulfillment 
than  the  New  West  academies  and  schools. 


SCHOOLS  OF  THE  NEW  WEST. 


SCHOOLS  OF  THE  NEW  WEST. 


ACADEMIES. 

Salt  Lake,  Utah Hammond  Hall 

Albuquerque,  New  Mexico Perkins  Hall 

Las  Vegas,  New  Mexico. 

Trinidad,  Colorado  Tillotson 

Santa  Fe,  New  Mexico Whitin  Hall 

Odgen,  Utah   Gordon 

Provo,    Utah    Provo 

El  Paso,  Texas Missionary  Training  School 


FREE  SCHOOLS. 

Salt  Lake,   (Phillips) Utah 

Salt  Lake  (Burlington)    Utah 

Salt  Lake  (Plymouth)    Utah 

Binghani   Utah 

Bountiful    Utah 

Gentreville    .  . .  Utah 


132  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

Coalville   Utah 

Echo    Utah 

Farmington    Utah 

Henefer Utah 

Heber Utah 

Hoytsville Utah 

/Hooper    Utah 

Huntsville    Utah 

Kamas  Utah 

Lehi   Utah 

Lynne Utah 

Midway Utah 

Morgan Utah 

Oak  Creek Utah 

Park  Oity  Utah 

Sandy Utah 

Stockton   Utah 

Slaterville    Utah 

Trenton  Utah 

West  Jordan   Utah 

Willard  Utah 

Wanship   Utah 

Oxford Idaho 

Holbrook   Arizona 

St.  John    Arizona 

Springerville    Arizona 

Armijo  New  Mexico 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  133 

Belen    New  Mexico 

Barelas New  Mexico 

Cubero   New  Mexico 

Deiiiing    New  Mexico 

Los  Lunas    New  Mexico 

Ranchos  de  Albuquerque New  Mexico 

Ranchos  de  Atrisco New  Mexico 

San  Rafael   New  Mexico 

San  Mateo   New  Mexico 

White  Oaks   .  .  .New  Mexico 


TEACHERS  OF  THE  NEW  WEST, 
WITH  LENGTH  OF  SERVICE. 


TEACHERS  OF  THE  NEW  WEST,  WITH 
LENGTH  OF  SERVICE. 


YEARS. 

Benner,  Mr.  Edward  A 13 

Gordon,  Mr.  Henry  E 13 

Collings,  Mrs.  L.  A 12 

Hervey,  Miss  Sarah  O 12 

Ashley,   Mrs.   Kate   M 10 

Colby,   Miss  Emma  J 10 

Huse,  Mr.  Isaac 10 

Les-ter,   Miss  Sarah  J 10 

Ashley,    Mr.   W.   H 9 

Dickinson,  Mrs.  J.  B 9 

Fitzgerald,  Miss  Ella  C 9 

Hall,  Miss  Fannie    9 

Pratt,  Miss  Jennie  B 9 

Winslow,  Miss  M.  M 9 

French,  Miss  Mary  F 8 

Gilmore,  Miss  Lizzie  M 8 

Merrill,  Mr.  Forest 8 

Ring,  Mr.  H.  W 8 

Shute,  Miss  M.  D 8 


138  TEE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

YEARS. 

Garrard,  Miss  Bettie  7 

Ludden,  Miss  V.  W 7 

Merrill,   Miss   Susie   1 7 

Pascoe,  Miss  Mary  E 7 

Ashley,  Mrs.  W.  H 6 

Dox,  Miss  Virginia  6 

Frost,  Miss  Ida  L 6 

Stokes,  Miss  Eva 6 

Allen,  Mr.  O.  E 5 

Campbell,  Miss  Lucy  R 5 

Emerson,   Missi  Minnie    5 

Hodgin,  Mr.  O.  E 5 

Hamlin,  Miss  Alice 5 

Hunter,  Miss  Georgia 5 

Keese,   Miss  Emma   B 5 

Peck,  Mr.  Fred  A 5 

Pease,  Miss  Mary  E    5 

Stahl,  Miss  Dorrie   5 

Stoner,   Miss  M.   0 5 

Benedict,  Miss  A.  J 4 

Beard,  Miss  R.  0 4 

Beard,  Miss  Florence  4 

Brown,  Miss  M.  A 4 

Blodgett,  Miss  Emma  M 4 

Crosby,  Miss  F.  8 4 

Foster,   Miss   Mary   L 4 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  139 

YEARS. 

French,  Miss  M.  J 4 

Hunt,  Miss  Carrie  W 4 

Hull,  Misis  Abbie  F 4 

Lewis,  Mrs.  C.  E 4 

McPherron,  Mr.  A.  S 4 

Mcrherron,  Mrs.  A.   S 4 

McCnllough,  Miss  M 4 

Mason,  Miss  Carrie  L 4 

Metcalf,  Mr.  K.  A 4 

Overman,  Miss  Frances 4 

Peebles,  Mrs.  David 4 

Kood,  Mrs.  H.  H 4 

Shepherd,   Miss  J.   A 4 

Smith,  Mrs.  H.  H 4 

Tichenor,  Miss  S.  E 4 

Van  Voorhis,  Miss  N.  L 4 

Wilson,  Miss  G.  A.  T. 4 

Armstrong,  Mrs.  J.  A 3 

Abbott,  Miss  Elizabeth  3 

Allen,  Miss  Emma  M 3 

Bailey,  Mrs.  A.  J 3 

Bnckland,  Mrs.  B.  F 3 

Clapp,  Miss  E.  W 3 

Olaflin,  Miss  Jennie 3 

Corbett,  Miss  Flora  J 3 

Dennis,  Mr.  David   3 


140  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

YEARS. 

Danforth,   Miss   E.    S 3 

Durham,  Miss  Kate  L 3 

Engstrom,  Miss  Carrie    3 

Eaton,  Miss  S.  A 3 

Gilbert,  Miss  Grace  E. 3 

Gaston,   Miss   C.   E 3 

Hand,  Miss  M.  A 3 

Hunt,  Miss  Etta  F 3 

Hills,  Miss  Mary  J 3 

Hawks,  Miss  Mary  E. 3 

Higgins,  Miss  Ada  M 3 

Ladd,  Mr.  H.  O 3 

Merrill,   Mrs.   Forest    3 

Munsinger,    Miss   M 3 

McClellan,  Miss  M.  L 3 

Nutting,  Miss  M.  H 3 

Pratt,  Miss  Josie  B 3 

Prout,  Miss  Ruth 3 

Ramsay,  Mr.  Geo.  S 3 

Robinson,  Miss  E.  S 3 

Ring,  Mrs.  H.  W 3 

Smith,   Miss  F.   C 3 

Seward,  Miss  Kate  L 3 

Wakefield,  Miss  L.  A 3 

Williamson,   Miss  S.  E 3 

Almy,   Miss   Lizzie 2 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  141 

YEARS. 

Atkinson,  Miss  Ella  C 2 

Benedict,  Miss  S.  W 2 

Baker,   Miss  Anna 2 

Bliss,  Miss  Julia  M 2 

Bartlett,  Mr.  Dana  W 2 

Bridges,  Miss  Alice 2 

Birck,  Miss  O.  F 2 

Beckwith,    Miss   Emily    2 

Biscoe,  Miss  Nellie  D 2 

Curry,  Mr.  D.  A 2 

Curry,  Mrs.  D.  A 2 

Carney,  Miss  J.   M 2 

Collyer,  Mrs.  L.  D 2 

Carter,  Miss  H.  A 2 

Carman,  Miss  Kate 2 

Clough,  Miss  E.  S 2 

Corwin,  Miss  Frances 2 

Davis,  Mr.  O.  F 2 

Day,  Miss  Allys  S 2 

Field,  Miss  Nella 2 

Foote,  Miss  Mary  S 2 

Gaines,  Mr.  M.  R 2 

Gunn,  Miss  Nellie  M 2 

Gardner,  Mr.  Chas 2 

Hayes,  Mr.  F.  W.  C 2 

Hayes,  Mrs.  F.  W.  C 2 


142  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

YEARS. 

Hyde,   Miss  M.   A 2 

Hood,  Mr.  E.  L 2 

Hjelm,   Miss   Nora    2 

Henry,  Miss  Mary  E 2 

Hegman,  Miss  Josie 2 

Hegman,  Miss  Bertha 2 

Hunt,  Miss  Anna  J „  2 

Holmes,  Miss  Jessie  F 2 

House,  Miss  N.  A 2 

Jones,  Miss  E.  S 2 

Jordan,  Miss  A.  E 2 

Lancaster,  Miss  O.  A 2 

Lawson,  Miss  L.  M 2 

LaRose,  Miss  A.  V 2 

Latham,  Miss  Jennie  2 

Lee,  Miss  Lou  E 2 

Lamson,  Miss  Nina  E 2 

Munson,  Miss;  L.  G 2 

Mantor,  Miss  E.  M 2 

Norton,  Miss  E.  A 2 

Parks,  Miss  A.  E , 2 

Pomeroy,  Miss  Bhoda 2 

Prout,  Miss  L.  J 2 

Pearson,   Miss   Mary    2 

Ross,  Mrs.  L.  R 2 

Ruel,  Miss  Anna 2 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  143 

YEARS. 

Roney,  Miss  Eva  ..  2 

Samson,  Miss  Gertrude  2 

Scruton,  Mrs.  H.  M ?, 

Shepardson,  Miss  A.  E 2 

Snyder,  Miss  Mary  2 

Stevens,  Miss  Alice  P 2 

Stelle,  Miss  Angie    2 

Slosson,  Miss  S.  H 2 

Smith,  Miss  Jennie  E 2 

Savers,  Miss  Lena   2 

Shepherd,  Miss  Etta  M 2 

Stoops,  Miss  Abbie  L 2 

Thrall,  Mrs.  W.  H 2 

Thompson,    Miss    C 2 

Tabor,  Miss  Mary  0 2 

Warren,  Miss  A.  M 2 

White,  Miss  Fanny 2 

Aoy,  Mr.  O.  V i 

Adair,  Miss  A.  E 1 

Arnold,   Miss   Bessie    i 

Allis,  Miss  F.  A 1 

Bosbyshell,  Miss  M.  V 1 

Bailey,  Miss  M.  G 1 

Buckingham,  Miss  E.  J 1 

Bell,  Mr.  J.  D 1 

Bond,  Missi  Mary 1 


144  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

YEARS. 

Bridges,  Miss  Vester 1 

Blanchard,  Miss  F.  A 1 

Bray,  Miss  Alice  P 1 

Binder,  Miss  A.  A 1 

Brace,  Miss  Laura   1 

Clough,  Mr.  A.  J 1 

Carter,  Miss  Sybil 1 

Cooley,    Miss    A.   J 1 

Cooley,  Mrs.  W.  F 1 

Clark,  Miss  Rena 1 

Collings,  Miss  L.  W 1 

Copeland,  Mrs.  M.  A I 

Button,  Miss  E.  H I 

Durnford,  Miss  Lillie  1 

Davis,  Mr.  E.  B 1 

Dickerman,  Miss  L.  W 1 

Everett,  Miss  Eva   1 

Elliott,  Mrs.  Sarah  C 1 

Emerson,  Miss  C.  E 1 

Fickes,   Miss  Lulu    1 

Fairchild,  Miss  Mary  1 

Frye,  Mrs.  G.  P 1 

Graves,  Mrs.  L.  B 1 

Gaston,  Miss  E.  C 1 

Gilbert,  Miss  Sarah  P 1 

Gould,  Mr.  J.   Sidney 1 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  145 

YEARS. 

Garlick,  Miss  Ella  F 1 

Gillespie,  Miss  Agnes  B. 1 

Garrard,  Mrs.  E.  S 1 

Hildreth,  Miss  E.  S 1 

Hutchins,  Miss  S.  F 1 

Hoyt,  Miss  Mary 1 

Howe,  Mr.  Ohas.  S 1 

Harlow,  Miss*  Sue    1 

Hubbard,  Miss  Eva 1 

Hunt,  Miss  Jessie  F 1 

Hayden,  Mr.  H.  B 1 

Hoffman,   Miss  M 1 

Hodgin,  Miss  Laura  A 1 

Hurt,   Mrs.  W.  0 1 

Heard,  Mrs.  Katherine   1 

House,  Mrs.  Mary 1 

Jones,   Mr.   M.   M 1 

Jaynes',  Mrs.  H.  B 1 

Jamison,  Miss  N.  J 1 

Keyes,   Miss  Elizabeth 1 

Keith,  Miss  A.  M 1 

King,  Miss  Mary  B 1 

Koller,  Miss  Bertha 1 

Lawrence,  Mr.  H.  B 1 

Lipper,  Miss  M 1 

Pee,  Miss  Rachel  1 


146  THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 

YEARS. 

Lyman,  Miss  Anna  J 1 

Lamson,  Miss  Carrie   1 

Loar,  Miss  I.  G 1 

Mayo,  Mr.  H.  N 1 

McLeod,   Miss   Edith    1 

Mitchell,   Miss   Mary    1 

Mover,  Mrs.  E.  F 1 

Marsh,  Miss  Cora  E 1 

Miller,  Miss  Edith  S 1 

Murphy,  Mrs.  E.  H 1 

Moore,  Miss  F.  E 1 

Milligan,  Miss  M.  H 1 

Newman,  Mr.  W.  H 1 

Nehber,  Miss  Ametia  1 

Noyes,  Miss  Abbie  P 1 

Nichol,  Miss  M.  L 1 

Pishnot,  Mrs.  C 1 

Pratt,   Miss  Lizzie 1 

Prescott,  Miss  Addie  1 

Perry,  Mr.  W.  H 1 

Perry,  Mrs.  W.  H 1 

Quint,  Miss  Katherine    1 

Roney,   Miss   Cora    1 

Sprague,  Miss  Bessie  1 

Smith,  Mrs.  C.  B 1 

Strong,  Miss  May  E 1 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION.  147 

YEARS. 

Scholenberger,  Miss  E 1 

Stone,  Missi  Lucy 1 

Schulz,  Miss  Antoine 1 

Smith,  Miss  Helene 1 

Smith,  Mr.  G.  B 1 

Stomats,  Miss  B 1 

Sloan,  Miss  Cornelia   1 

Sedgers,   Miss   Lydia    1 

Taylor,  Miss  Maggie   1 

Turner,  Miss  Harriet  E 1 

Towne,  Miss  Harriet  B 1 

Tompkins,  Mr.  J.  C.  0 1 

Updegroff,  Mrs.  R.  B 1 

Wilber,   Mr.   G.   F 1 

Woodmansee,  Miss  E 1 

Whittemore,  Mr.  F.  E 1 

Whitlock,   Miss   Ella    1 

Wilson,  Miss  Ada  E 1 

Yeatman,  Mr.  J.  S 1 


SUMMARY. 


THE  NEW  WEST  EDUCATION  COMMISSION. 


\ 


151 


SUMMARY. 


« 

9 

00 

CO 

m. 

a 

a 

Pi 

'o 

A 

03 

«3 

+» 

1 

2 

8 
$ 

I 

I 

§ 
1 

3 

o 

I 

H 

1 

1 

6 

1880 

$   3,004.00 

5 

8 

500 

1881 

23,360.00 

10 

22 

700 

1882 

23,528.00 

16 

29 

1,214 

271 

215 

45 

620 

1883 

35,219.00 

19 

33 

•1,613 

425 

305 

89 

794 

1884 

52,911.00 

38 

61 

2,925 

896 

604 

286 

1,139 

1885 

48,470.00 

37 

62 

2,686 

812 

500 

298 

1,078 

1886 

55,675.00 

35 

63 

2,560 

764 

541 

142 

1,113 

1887 

61,319.00 

28 

59 

2,383 

727 

653 

155 

848 

1888 

64,896.00 

30 

64 

2,725 

855 

830 

171 

869 

1889 

65,033.00 

30 

71 

3,255 

1,035 

886 

115 

1,219 

1890 

75,301.00 

32 

75 

3,284 

967 

831 

212 

1,274 

1891 

88,209.00 

29 

79 

3,704 

861 

759 

505 

1,579 

1892 

78,395.00 

29 

68 

2,812 

742 

585 

287 

1,198 

1893 

79,361.00 

26 

65 

2,481 

699 

430 

381 

971 

$755.081.00 

THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  5O  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


4 1968  a  a 


SEP    4    1044 


MAR  12*68 -11  AM 


12MaV50fi 


INTER-LIBRARY 
tQAN 


AUG  27  1971 


>x 


C*  U  L.D 


LD  2 1-1 00m 


TL 


360459 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


